Offered in this lot is a Vintage Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Large Decorative Plate, circa mid to late 19th century, Qianlong Qing Dynasty Period mark on backside. Provenance: the Owen D. Mort, Jr. Collection. Owen David Mort was an American engineer who amassed an impressive collection throughout his worldwide travels. His collection has included art, artifacts and other historical items from which he has donated to museums at the University of Utah and Snite Museum of Art, the University of Notre Dame, including African, Afghan, Indian, Mughal, Persian and Far East Asian art and artifacts. Early Chinese culture relied on several timekeeping notations to keep track of days, months, and years. Among these were the familiar methods of numbering the months of the year from one to twelve and counting years in terms of the reigns of rulers. However, one form of timekeeping was independent of the events or history and even of the rhythms of nature. This was a system of counting that involved the combination of two series of signs, which yielded a total of 60 possible combinations. This is called the system of ?Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.? This porcelain plate features geomancy (Feng Shui) compass, zodiac symbols and Bagua (eight trigrams) in the center of the plate surrounding the symbols for yin and yang. This plate is in fine condition, a consistent craquelure glazing features prominently throughout. Colours and designs are vivid, no marring observed. Measures 14" diameter x 2"D, weight approx 3lb, 14oz.

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