A famille-verte 'Romance of the Western Chamber' square bowlQing dynasty, Kangxi period清康熙 五彩西廂記人物故事圖倭角方盌the base with a handled vessel in underglaze blue within a double circleWidth 7⅜ in., 18.8 cmFor more information on and additional videos for this lot, please contact serina.wei@sothebys.comIn response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.Marc Michot, Bruges, circa 2000.European Private Collection.馬克•蜜修特，布魯日，約2000年歐洲私人收藏The scenes of the present bowl are taken from the famous story of a secret love affair between the young scholar Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying, the daughter of a Tang dynasty minister. Originating in the Tang dynasty, the tale was adopted by Wang Shifu of the Yuan dynasty in the popular drama Xixiangji [Romance of the West Chamber], which became a major source of inspiration for scholars and artists during the 17th century.The present bowl is an outstanding example of Kangxi imperial porcelain in which the craftsman has successfully captured the drama of the scenes taken from woodblock print illustrations of the story and rendered in a famille-verte palette. A sense of dynamism is captured through the use of outlines which have been drawn in swift yet fine strokes, and attention is cleverly drawn to the interactions between the figures. See a famille-verte bowl of closely related form, similarly painted with scenes from Xixiangji, exhibited in Stephen Little, Chinese Ceramics of the Transitional Period 1620-1683, New York, 1984, cat. no. 55 and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 2nd June 2015, lot 3227. Compare a pair of bowls, also decorated with scenes from the novel, illustrated in Jeffrey P. Stamen, Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni, A Culture Revealed, Kangxi-Era Chinese Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, Bruges, 2017, cat. no. 12. 90th Anniversary Exhibition. Qing Porcelain from Private Collections, Marchant, London, 2015, cat. no. 10.《九十週年特展—私人收藏清代瓷器》，馬錢特，倫敦，2015年，編號10