China, 1713-1722. The steep sides rising from a slightly tapering ring foot to an everted rim. The interior finely painted in deep cobalt blue with a dignitary bestowing an edict to a peasant farmer, accompanied by an attendant holding a canopy and a small elephant, two birds flying in the sky above, the exterior with three evenly spaced blossoming plum branches. The backside with the six-character mark da Qing Kangxi nianzhi within a double circle and of the period.

Provenance: From an old French private collection.
Condition: Very good condition with old wear, light surface scratches, some firing flaws, few minuscule glaze flakes, minor fritting. The foot rim with superficial markings and soiling, including traces of rust, from a metal mounting which once was applied for wall suspension.

Weight: 2,418 g
Dimensions: Diameter 40.3 cm, Height 7 cm

Large dishes like the present example, where the entire surface of the vessel is given over as the major decorative area, provided the Kangxi ceramic artists with a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate their skills in painting. The style chosen to paint the scene here, probably commemorating an actual event, is a version of the so-called ‘Master of the Rocks’ style. This style, which seems to have developed towards the mid-17th century, continued to be popular in the early years of the Kangxi reign, with fewer but bolder examples being made after the turn of the century. It was by no means limited to the brush of a single artist, or just to rock and landscape painting.

Instead, the style is characterized by the use of ‘hemp-fiber’ strokes, slightly sinuous and in seemingly broken lines, seen to great effect in the skin of the elephant and the clothes of the figures on the present lot. These strokes are also found on related but slightly earlier blue and white dishes (see auction result comparison) in the gentle slopes of rock formations and, in smaller applications, on the clothes of figures. But as porcelain production developed during the Kangxi reign, away from the decorative settings of the late Ming period towards a more mature style, the ‘hemp-fiber’ strokes became ever more striking and imposing as they appeared on larger figures against an undecorated background, exactly as in the present dish.

Auction result comparison: Compare with a related blue and white dish of significantly smaller size at Sotheby’s New York in Kangxi: The Jie Rui Tang Collection on 20 March 2018, lot 312, sold for USD 60,000, and another considerably smaller dish at Christie’s New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 18 September 2003, lot 312, sold for USD 23,900. Compare also with a blue and white brushpot, dated c. 1640, painted with a similar subject, at Sotheby’s London in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 16 May 2012, lot 112, sold for GBP 37,250.

康熙款和時期青花人物盤
中國，1713-1722年。盤沿外翻。盤內青花描繪官員把法令賜給農民，身後有隨從和一頭大象。空中有兩隻鳥在空中飛舞。盤外有三個均勻分佈的梅花樹枝。圈足青花雙圈六字款“大清康熙年制”。

來源：法國私人老收藏
品相：狀況良好，有舊磨損，輕微的表面划痕，一些燒制缺陷，很少的釉面開片，輕微熔結。 圈足上有金屬痕跡，表面有污漬，包括鏽蝕痕跡。該盤曾經挂在墻上。

重量：2,418 克
尺寸：直徑40.3 厘米, 高7 厘米

拍賣結果比較：一件相似尺寸明顯較小的青花盤，售于紐約蘇富比 Kangxi: The Jie Rui Tang Collection 拍場2018年3月20日, lot 312, 售價USD 60,000；一件尺寸更小的盤售于紐約佳士得 Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art 拍場2003年9月18日，lot 312, 售價USD 23,900. 一件相近主題，約1640年間的青花筆洗，售于倫敦蘇富比 Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art拍場2012年5月16日，lot 112, 售價GBP 37,250.