A FINE MASSIVE FAMILLE ROSE 'MYNAH BIRD' CHARGER Yongzheng/early Qianlong period, circa 1740 Brightly and delicately enameled in Yongzheng painterly taste across the whole center of this unusually large charger with a large black and white bird perched on a flowering curling double branch of leafy tree peony issuing from a blue 'scholar's rock' alongside more peonies and other vivid flowers, all beneath an unusually elaborate and colorful wide border of floral swags divided at the compass points by four blue and pink cloud-collar panels. 22in (52cm) diam Footnotes: 雍正/乾隆早期 約1740年 大件粉彩《喜鵲牡丹》紋盤 Published Cohen & Cohen, Take Two!, Antwerp, 2017, pp. 66-67, no. 27 出版： 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《Take Two!》，安特衛普，2017年，頁66-67，圖版編號27 The bird is most likely a mynah (ma mi niao), an Asian (and Australasian) starling that typically has dark plumage, gregarious behavior, and a loud call. The crest at the beak of our example suggests it to be a Crested Mynah (Acridotheres cristatellus). It was for many generations kept as a caged bird in China, popular for its ability to mimic sounds, often repeating words in the same way as a parrot in the West. Mynah birds have appeared in a number of Chinese folk tales, including one as early the Han dynasty in which the bird belonging to an artist gains revenge upon a local magistrate for unfairly treating its master. In the Ming era they often symbolized freedom and independence of thought. A painting by Bada Shanren (c.1626-1705) has the inscription: 'The Myna bird understands the language of man and does not care whether the wind blows or the sun shines.' Given the very high quality and technical virtuosity of the painting on this charger, it seems very probable that this unusually large and handsome display dish must have been enameled in the same workshop as lot 22 in this sale.