A COMPLETE SET OF FOUR FAMILLE ROSE ‘EIGHT IMMORTALS’ PLAQUES, BY WANG QI (1884-1937)
China, Republic period, circa 1930. Exquisitely painted in bright enamels, each plaque depicting two of the Eight Immortals wearing fine robes and holding their attributes, with two seals of the artist. (4)


Expert’s note
: The quality of this set is remarkable. The artwork is exquisitely detailed in vivid and confident brushstrokes, very much unlike the countless copies in circulation today. The enamels are exceptionally well fired, with crisp and elegant colors, blended to an overall near-perfect harmony, as found only in a small number of works from the Wang Qi studio. Equally noteworthy is the quality of the hardwood frames, including their fittings and backings, all exhibiting clear signs of age, original to the set and executed to the highest standards, a level of craftsmanship absent in later pieces.


Inscriptions:
Each plaque with two seals: the first, lower right, ‘Wang Qi’ and ‘Liandan jishi’; the second, lower right, one reading ‘Wang Qi’; the third, lower left, ‘Xiaoyao’ and ‘Wang Qi huayin’; and the fourth, lower right, one reading ‘Wang Qi’.


Provenance:
North American trade. By repute acquired from a local estate.

Condition:
Excellent condition with some old wear and firing irregularities. Little rubbing and flaking to enamels. One plaque with a phosphorescent firing flaw in the upper left corner. The frames with expected traces of use, minor splits and a natural patina.

Dimensions: Panel size ca. 55 x 17 cm (each), Size incl. frame ca. 59 x 21 cm (each)

The first plaque depicts Li Tieguai leaning on his iron crutch, carrying two gourds on his back, one releasing fumes, standing next to He Xiangu holding a long leafy blossoming lotus stem, under the full moon.

The second plaque with Zhongli Quan holding his fan and Lu Dongbin with his sword sheathed to his back, below a flying crane.

The third plaque shows Han Xiangsi, with his flute suspending a jade pendant, conversing with Cao Guojiu looking up towards his castanets in the air above.

The fourth plaque with the elderly Zhang Guo holding his bamboo rod and standing beside Lan Caihe carrying his basket filled with flowers and lingzhi, below an iron-red bat.


The Baxian
(Eight Immortals) are a legendary group of Chinese heroes who fight to vanquish evil. Most of them are said to have been born in the Tang or Song Dynasty. They are revered by the Taoists and are also a popular element in secular Chinese culture. They are said to live on a group of five islands in the Bohai Sea, which includes Mount Penglai. Stories of these immortals were first recorded by the Ming dynasty poet Wu Yuantai. Their status as folk icons makes them well-known in popular culture.


Wang Qi
(1884-1937) was the most outstanding porcelain painter of his day. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, imperial orders for porcelain dwindled at Jingdezhen, the main porcelain production center in China. Porcelain artists, released from imperial restraints, developed their own styles based on famous scroll painters of earlier periods. Eight of the leading artists formed a group, which despite calling themselves ‘The Full Moon Society’ came to be known as the ‘Eight Friends of Zushan’. The development of Wang Qi’s mature style can be traced to a trip he made to Shanghai in 1916 to see an exhibition of works by a group of painters called Yangzhou Baguai (the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou). Wang was so impressed by the paintings of Huang Shen, one of the Eight Eccentrics, that he started to emulate Huang’s style. But not satisfied with just emulating, over the years, Wang increasingly developed his own distinct style by incrementally incorporating Western painting and enameling techniques in his work.


His earlier works were characterized by the gongbi style
, which employed fine outlines for human figures. However, his style evolved over time, transitioning into a more free style. Wang Qi's artistic journey led him to Jingdezhen in 1901, where he learned porcelain painting and portrait painting from Deng Bishan and Qian Hui An. His talent was recognized when he received the "Supernatural Technique" plate as a gift from the Fuliang County Magistrate in 1916, which significantly boosted his reputation. In 1916, Wang Qi traveled to Shanghai with Wang Dafan to attend the Shanghai Paintings Exhibition, where he encountered the Eight Strange Masters of Yangzhou. Among them, he was particularly impressed by the painting style of Huang Shen, who excelled in painting people, landscapes, and flowers and birds. Wang Qi's background in portrait painting, sculpture, and painting portraits on porcelain, combined with his exposure to Western painting techniques, elevated his porcelain paintings to a new level of artistic accomplishment.


Literature comparison:

A set of plaques, also painted with the Eight Immortals but in a different arrangement of pairs, is preserved in the China Ceramic Museum, Jingdezhen, albeit unpublished. The Muwentang Collection has a group of famille-rose plaques of different figural subjects painted in a related style by Wang Qi, attributed to the period between 1912-1925, published in Simon Kwan, Minguo ciqi (Chinese Porcelain of the Republic Period), Hong Kong, 2008, pls. 12-19.




王琦款一組四件粉彩八仙掛屏

中國，民國，約1930年。明亮琺瑯繪製，分別描繪了八仙中的兩位持法器。第一塊：月下李鐵拐拄著鐵拐，背著兩個，一個還在冒煙，站在何仙姑身邊，仙姑手裡拿著一朵蓮花；第二塊：漢鍾離手持扇子，呂洞賓背劍，旁邊是一隻飛鶴；第三塊：韓湘子吹笛，身配玉佩，與曹國舅似乎在談話，抬頭望飛在空中的響板；第四塊：張果老手持竹竿，提著裝滿鮮花和靈芝的籃子站在藍采荷身旁，下方飛舞著一隻紅色蝙蝠。細節精緻，筆觸生動而自信。 琺瑯精良，色彩淡雅。木框為套裝原創。(4)


款識：
王琦，煉丹濟世；王琦；逍遙，王琦畫印；王琦。


來源：
北美古玩交易，據説購於當地舊藏。

品相：
狀況良好，有磨損，琺琅輕微摩擦和剝落。一塊掛屏左上角有燒製缺陷。框架有使用痕跡、輕微裂痕和自然包漿。

尺寸：掛屏分別為55 x 17 厘米，總約59 x 21 厘米


文獻比較:

景德鎮中國陶瓷博物館保存有一套匾額，也繪有八仙，但排列方式不同，但未出版。木文堂藏品一組王琪相近人物粉彩匾額，年代為1912-1925年，見Simon Kwan，《民國瓷器》，香港，2008年，圖 12-19。