8. rockwork mountains A pair of thickly potted enamel on biscuit porcelain mountains on a circular base. They are richly embellished with miniature figures, pavilions, gates, trees and small animals. A path with steps goes around the open rugged rocks leading through grottoes, into various pagoda’s, up to the tiered temple at the top. Imposing pine trees with yellow trunks and bushy bunches of green needles, grow up the side of the mountain. It is glazed in the sancai palette of aubergine, green and yellow enamels. The buildings are largely left uncoloured, so the white biscuit body shows. This type of mountain is representative of an idealised sacred Daoist mountain. A miniature representation of the Daoist ideals of being in harmony with natural forces. An intellectual fantasy of an ideal life in retirement, close to nature. A Chinese garden often held miniature natural elements like rocks, water features (streams and waterfalls), as well as architectural elements (bridges and pavilions). These were all essential elements of the scholars garden, forming a microcosm of universe itself, in which he could meditate. These models can also be viewed as a three-dimensional variant of the Chinese landscape paintings with the same subject of figures in a mountainous landscape. Porcelain mountains were most probably used indoors for contemplation and enjoyment in a scholar’s study, much like real rocks or carved jade boulders. As such they would have evoked an idyllic mountain retreat. Even though this type of object was not intended for export, some would have made their way into European collections as an exotic curiosity.
displayed on a mantelpiece. Single examples can be found in The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Inv. Nr. AKMAK 592) and the Laura Collection (Italy). A smaller rockwork mountain is in the Swedish Royal Collection at Drottingholm Palace, and was included in the 1777 inventory. Another smaller mountain was in the Eumorfopolous Collection catalogued by Hobson in 1925. Literature Bondy 1923, p. 150 Hay 1985, p. 16-32 Hobson1925 - 1928, pl. XXXVII - E189 Jörg & van Campen 1997, p. 185 Morena 2005, p. 134 & 220-221 Scagliola 2005, p. 245 Setterwall 1974, p. 169 Ströber 2011, p. 221 Welch 2008, p. 64
Rockwork Mountains China, early Kangxi period (1662-1722) H: 45 cm ø: 25 cm Provenance: The Chinese Porcelain Co., New York, 2013 Roy Mottahedeh, Brookline MA, 2011 Raffi & Mildred Mottahedeh, New York, 1982 假山小景一對（清康熙早期） 高：45厘米；直徑：25厘米
Pairs of these mountains are extremely rare, only Museo degli Argenti (Florence) has a pair formerly in the Medici Collection. Walter Bondy depicts a pair
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來源：美國紐約中國瓷器公司（2013年） 美國麻省羅伊·莫塔赫德（2011年） 美國紐約拉菲·莫塔赫德夫婦（1982年）