Plate - Porcelain

This pair of small dishes is a fine example of high-quality porcelain from the civilian kilns of Jingdezhen during the Republican period. They are well-formed, with a thin yet solid body, a smooth and lustrous glaze that is white with a subtle bluish tint, and neatly finished foot rims. The base bears an iron-red seal script mark reading “Made during the Tongzhi Reign of the Great Qing,” a typical apocryphal mark used by Republican-period kilns in imitation of official imperial kiln styles.

The centers of the dishes are decorated with figures of elegant ladies and playing boys in the Qianjiangcai (shallow crimson) palette.
The larger dish is inscribed “A Beauty beneath Flowers and Moon” and depicts a lady with a boy appreciating plum blossoms in a courtyard, accented with bright red plum flowers and naturally rendered rocks and foliage.
The smaller dish is inscribed “A Lady as Fair as Jade” and shows a lady instructing a boy beneath a tree, with fluent ink-line drawing and elegant light-color washes. The ladies have gentle facial features, and the boys are lively in expression, fully reflecting the refined aesthetic of literati porcelain painting in the Republican era.

This complete pair is well-preserved with a natural aged patina, and remains in excellent condition with no hairlines, chips, or enamel loss. As a superb representative of Republican-period porcelain featuring elegant ladies, and being extremely rare to survive as an intact pair, it possesses exceptional collection, historical and cultural value, making it a treasured acquisition for connoisseurs.