A RARE PAIR OF INSCRIBED CHINESE SAUCERS TRANSITIONAL C.1640 One painted with a boy playing a flute

A RARE PAIR OF INSCRIBED CHINESE SAUCERS

TRANSITIONAL C.1640

One painted with a boy playing a flute, riding a buffalo on a mountain path, with two lines of the poem Cunwan (Village at Dusk) by Lei Zhen from the Northern Song Dynasty. The other painted with a scholar on a terrace looking towards an official who is fanned by his attendant among clouds, inscribed to the left with two final verses of the poem Shang yuan shi yan (Royal Banquet on the Fifteenth Day of the First Month) by Su Shi (1037-1101), each is supported on a broad footrim, 13cm. (2)

One poem reads: 'The herding boy returns, riding sideways on the back of his buffalo. With his small flute he plays a random melody, blowing just as he pleases.' the other reads: 'In the Tongming Hall attendants and ministers stand with eager attention. A rosy cloud holds aloft the Jade Emperor.'