拍品专文
Compare to similar gourd bowls, the first with a Kangxi shang wan mark decorated around the exterior with shou-character medallions and two others with Qianlong marks with scrolling floral motifs, all illustrated by Tsang and Moss, Chinese Decorated Gourds, International Asian Antiques Fair Hong Kong, Handbook, 1983, nos. 2, 4 and 5. This lot is extremely rare as it is one of only two gourd bowls enhanced with gilt decoration to the interior. The other such bowl is above-mentioned illustration no. 2. Moulded gourds were not only popular with the literati as simple decorative objects but the double- gourd shape had allegorical associations with the Daoist Immortal Paradise, ibid, p. 51.
A further example of stylised lotus-scrolls impressed on the surface of a garlic-neck vase is illustrated by Zhu, Treasures of the Forbidden City, p. 209, fig. 80, where the author emphasised Imperial interest in these highly prized naturally grown pieces through a Qianlong poem 'Odes to a vase-gourd', Yong hu lu qi, which suggested that experimentations in growing gourds were conducted by Emperor Kangxi in the Imperial West Gardens, located outside the Forbidden City.
As one would expect, the interior lacquer has distorted slightly due to the movement of the organic material of the gourd against the tough stable surface of the lacquer.
(US$45,000-50,000)
A further example of stylised lotus-scrolls impressed on the surface of a garlic-neck vase is illustrated by Zhu, Treasures of the Forbidden City, p. 209, fig. 80, where the author emphasised Imperial interest in these highly prized naturally grown pieces through a Qianlong poem 'Odes to a vase-gourd', Yong hu lu qi, which suggested that experimentations in growing gourds were conducted by Emperor Kangxi in the Imperial West Gardens, located outside the Forbidden City.
As one would expect, the interior lacquer has distorted slightly due to the movement of the organic material of the gourd against the tough stable surface of the lacquer.
(US$45,000-50,000)