A blue and white Romance of the Three Kingdoms charger, Kangxi period (1661-1722) 1661 - 1722

Unknown artist

PorcelainChinese porcelain
5 cm, ø 37 cm
Price on request

Menken Works of Art

• About the artwork
  A large Chinese porcelain blue and white ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ charger.
  China, Kangxi period (1661-1722).
  
  The deep large plate decorated in the central roundel with an underglaze blue decoration of three figures in a garden pavilion setting. The cavetto and the rim have several grounds with reserved cartouches decorated with precious objects.
  
  The story seen here is derived from the Yuan-dynasty (1271–1368) play entitled The Stratagem of Interlocking Rings (连环计 Lian Huan Ji). This play by an anonymous author predates one of the four great novels of Chinese classical literature, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), wherein this same story is being told in chapter eight. See last slide for a woodblock print of this exact scene from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, published by Shu Linzhou in the 19th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty.
  
  Ref:
  A similar plate can be found in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.
  
  Lit:
  Ni, Yibin (倪亦斌)《王允貂蝉合谋连环计，董卓吕布翻脸成仇敌》, Reader’s Taste《读者欣赏》 (October 2017): 114-119
  
  Dimensions:
  Diameter 37 cm, height 5 cm.
  
  Condition:
  Small hairline to the footrim of ca. 3 cm with an accompanying smaller impact line to the edge of the inner footrim, both not showing on the top of the plate. Another small hairline showing to the footrim of ca. 1.5 cm. Furthermore only one tiny frit to the brown dressed rim, there are another three pieces visible that look like small frittings but these are under the glaze and thus a kiln flaw.
  
  Inv. no: A00554
• About the artist

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