The 100 Deer Bowl

EXTREMELY RARE 100 DEER OF PROSPERITY 百鹿圖珐琅彩
FALANGCAI ENAMEL BOWL

* Please ignore any light reflections*

QING PERIOD (1644 to 1911)


An absolutely stunning portrayal of The 100 Deer of Prosperity百鹿圖.

The bowl with rounded sides resting on a short foot.

An exquisite continuous scene deftly painted of deer in a mountainous landscape, frolicking, gambolling, grazing, and resting in a variety of poses.

Finely enamelled in naturalistic tones of russet and brown, many with spotted white coats, some with all white coats.

Old pine trees with gnarled trunks, branches bearing bunches of needles, ancient cypress trees with luxuriant growth, grassy slopes and mounds, rocky outcrops.
Towering mountains painted in the style and colours reminiscent of the Song dynasty.

All set against a white ground.

The interior and base enamelled white.

A four character Yongzheng Period Mark in cobalt blue set within a double line square.

This extraordinary 100 Deer Bowl with its realistic rendering of the deer, the colours and shades that define the rocky scape.
The lofty mountains, the use of stippling on the cypress are all indicative that this marvellous impressive masterpiece is the work of a Master Artist

I have never seen a 珐琅彩 Falangcai Enamel on copper bowl with this theme.
There are many representations of the 100 deer theme, normally depicted on Hu shaped Jingdezehn Porcelain vases with archaistic handles.

This spectacular vibrant artwork is comparable in quality to the finest pieces of 珐琅彩 Falangcai, that were produced in the Ateliers of The Imperial Workshops - Zaobanchu 造辦處 .

Formerly the property of a Japanese collector.

Please refer to the images for details as they also form the description.

Depending on your computer monitor / phone / etc colour may vary to actual

Condition: Excellent

Width about : 16.7 cm
Height about : 8.8 cm
Weight about : 521 grams

A$7,950

Hundred : is also a term signifying Many.

The deer lu 鹿 provide a rebus for the word lu 祿, which can mean good fortune or blessings.
A hundred deer百鹿 bai lu thus suggests the wish 受天百祿 shoutian bailu ‘May you receive a hundred blessings from heaven’.

The number one hundred is implied by two other rebuses within the design on this remarkable bowl.
One of these is provided by the inclusion of cypress trees in the design, since the name for cypress in Chinese is also bai 柏.

The other rebus is the inclusion of white deer amongst the brown and russet animals, since the word for white in Chinese is bai 白 – another homophone for the word meaning a hundred.

It is interesting that there are several deer with white coats depicted– both stags and hinds, since white deer were regarded as being especially auspicious.
The Jin dynasty scholar Ge Hong (葛洪 AD 283-343) wrote in his Baopuzi (抱朴子 The Master Who Embraces Simplicity) that the deer can live one thousand years and turns white after five hundred years.

A white deer therefore symbolises long life, as well as good fortune and nobility.

More generally, deer had a number of other auspicious associations in traditional Chinese culture. Shoulao, the Star God of Longevity, is usually depicted accompanied by a spotted deer, crane, peach and pine tree.

Each of these, including the deer, thus represents long life.
Deer were also believed to be the only animals that are able to locate lingzhi, the fungus of immortality.