KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARKS IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN DOUBLE CIRCLES AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

Each bowl is painted with a scene of a master and two attendants. The master, dressed in a wide robe, walks ahead, while one attendant follows behind, carrying a peach on his shoulder, whilst the companion balances a shoulder pole with a bundle of paper scrolls and double gourd at one end and a wine jar at the other. A dragon emerges from the clouds, interacting dynamically with the trio of master and his attendants.

Compare to a nearly identical doucai bowl housed in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, no.199 (fig. 1); and a pair of Kangxi doucai 'figural' tea bowls sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7 October 2009, lot 1611.

Dongfang Shuo embodies the cultural ideal of a mortal attaining eternal life. The motif of the peach corresponds to the legend of ‘Dongfang Shuo stealing the peaches of immortality,’ while the motif of the dragon echoes stories recorded in Taiping Guangji (Extensive Gleaning from the Reign of Taiping), first published in Song dynasty, in which Shuo —as a child—transforms his robe into a dragon to summon rain, and eventually becomes an immortal, flying away on a dragon’s back.