PLATES -2-

"The whole surface is covered with brown curl work on which coloured flowers are thrown except the scroll shaped reserve in the centre and the smaller reserves top & bottom. That it is night is shown by the moon and stars, the latter being strung together in the way they are always represented by the Chinese. This is a scene taken from the romance called Si-siang-ki (? 1st 'S') History of Pavilion of the West. During the Yuan Dynasty, the wife of the Prime Minister Hsaio, had a daughter named Sing Sing (the Nightingale ) who was promised in marriage to a gentleman named Chang. Afterwards the mother wished to break off the betrothal and marry the girl to her nephew, Mr. Tan. Mr. Chang, afraid that he would lose his bride, having first thrown over his boots, climbed a tree outside the garden of the house where the nightingale was living and jumped over the wall to meet her. In all this he was aided by one of her female attendants, who is the lady seen in the picture." (L.A. Mills quoting Gulland - page reference not given.) The pinks and blues of a. are deeper than b. but whilst a. has a deeper grey tree, the gentleman in b. has dark black hair. The hair on a. appears to have worn off. The large object (gourd?) in the upper reserve is pink on a. and yellow on b. There are other minor differences. Possibly the subject of a receipt from Hyam & Co., 10 December 1919 for 17 pounds. Xerox of receipt attached to data sheet. Ann Roberts: A pair of `famille-rose' plates, each painted with a scroll depicting a maiden walking in a garden watching her admirer leap over the garden wall beside a willow tree, his boots on the grass beside her, all reserved on a sepia scroll ground decorated with object vignettes and sprays.

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History Collection

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