A polychrome enameled rectangular plaque


Republic periodDepicting an inebriated scholar falling onto his young acolyte supporting him in an athletic crouch over one shoulder while humorously pinching his nose with his left hand, the lengthy inscription bearing a renshen date (equivalent to 1932) and bearing a Liu Xiren signature (1906-1967) and two seals reading Xichang Liu and Xiren.15in (38cm) visible height of porcelain
|For several works by Liu Xiren depicting figures with similar types of thickly rendered faces displaying a lively humor, see Zheng Niansheng and Liu Yang ed, Jingdezhen Cibanhua Jingpin Jianshi (Shanghai: Shanghai Shuhua Chubanshe, 2003), pp. 224-228, notably the elderly figures in entry number 204 and Liu Hai in 202. These same artistic choices as well as red seals very similar to the present lot are found Liu's depiction of the 'Red Cliff Ode' offered in Christie's, Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 3282. The gaping grins on the figures on that plaque (probably one of the more irreverent depictions of Su Shi's sweetly melancholy rhapsodies) and the lecherous scholar of the present plaque could easily be said to share a similarly off-kilter sensibility.