Porcelain decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, brown-washed rim.
A fine small saucer dish, delicately potted and painted in underglaze cobalt blue with a narrative scene set in a mountainous landscape. At the center, a dignitary is shown walking along a parapet, accompanied by attendants, while a youth follows behind bearing a banner.
To the left, two additional attendants and at the forefront a young boy presents the dignitary with a vase from which three halberds project prominently. In the distance, the roofs of buildings emerge through drifting clouds.
The scene is rich in auspicious symbolism and functions as a visual pun expressing a wish for success and advancement in official life. The image of "three halberds growing from a vase" (ping sheng san ji) is homophonous with the phrase meaning "to be unexpectedly promoted three ranks in the hierarchy of mandarins," making the dish an eloquent expression of good fortune and career advancement. Such rebus imagery was particularly favoured during the Transitional period, when narrative and symbolic scenes became increasingly sophisticated and expressive.
Literature
A similar bowl is illustrated in Exhibition of Transitional Wares for the Japanese and Domestic Markets, London 1989 (S. Marchant & Son), p 36 pl 48-49.
The pronunciation of “three halberds grow from a vase,” ping sheng san ji, is homophonous with the pronunciation of “being unexpectedly promoted three ranks in the hierarchy of mandarins.” (see Strober, Eva, La Maladie de la Porcelaine: East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of Augustus the Strong, Berlin, 2001, pp. 30).
Also see Anita Gray catalogue of Oriental Ceramics, no 22 for a similar example painted to the centre with a scene of a sage standing in front of a cave is pointing to show a fisherman the way to the mythical village of Peach Blossom Spring.
