Description
Description: Chinese porcelain bowl decorated in underglaze cobalt blue which turned out with grayish tinge due to the low quality of the cobalt. Despite that, the bowl is rare and of great interest as it is painted in abstract style, with motifs that should be related to the real story of the Song poet Li Qingzhao (see the Notes here below).
Dating: 15th century, Chenghua (1464-1487) period, Ming dynasty.
Size: 13.4 cm diameter
Provenance: Antiquarian market
References:
Notes: Because of the presence of the rider and of a lady in the garden that is at the bottom of the bowl, at first glance the decoration could recall the story of Wang Zhaojun (see our bowl T30 here in this section) but all the rest of the decoration is indicating that it is actually related to the story of Li Qingzhao, the Song dynasty poet that is considered to be the greatest female poet of Chinese history. A short resume of Li Qingzhao life: she born in 1084 in a family of literati and poets, and she started writing poems since young. She married at the age of 18 with Zhao Mingcheng, a student at the time but who too become a good writer. It was a happy marriage but when the Song were attached and defeated by the Jin, the couple moved to South (on the bowl, the rider and Li carrying the qin), crossing the Yellow rider (on the bowl, the couple on the boat among a lush vegetation). After a few years, Zhao died for illness and Li became alone. All this had a profound influence on her poems, which become full of sadness and loneliness (on the bowl, Li seated alone in a garden playing the qi). In the last picture, a Chinese painting representing Li Qingzhao.
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