Lot 251. A 'Ding''Dragon and Lotus' bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 17cm., 6 3/4 in. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 GBP. Lot sold 66,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

the deep gently curved sides rising from a short straight foot, carved around the exterior with two rows of over-lapping stiff lotus leaves, the interior with a finely incised dragon medallion, covered overall with a clear ivory glaze, the rim copper bound.

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London (paper label to the base).

Literature: 'Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao', The Bulletin of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 25, 1953, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 86, fig. 74.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 452.

The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 107. 

Sotheby's. London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork: Early Chinese Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008

Lot 266. A rare white stoneware figure of a seated Buddha, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234), 19cm, 7 1/2 in. Estimate 15,000 — 20,000 GBP. Lot sold 58,100 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

modelled seated in dhyanasana on a lotus pedestal base, the hands held in dhyanamudra and wearing a loose-fitting robe falling in deep folds around his arms and lower body, his face with gentle smile framed by long pendulous ear-lobes and his hair tied in tight knots around the usnisa, covered overall in a white slip and a clear ivory glaze.

Exhibited: Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 541.

Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1971, cat. no. 104, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums. 

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 407.

The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 122.

Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 609.

Note: Figurative 'Ding' ware is very rare, and the present piece is a magnificent example of fine craftsmanship, which is seen in the beautifully modelled figure of the Buddha and the transparent ivory glaze. No other 'Ding' figure of this type appears to be published, although a figure of a bodhisattva in a shrine is illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. One, London, 1994, pl. 370. Figures from the Northern Song and Jin dynasties are known, for example see several published in Chugoku toji zenshu, vol. 9, Kyoto, 1981, pls. 61-6 and 94-7.

Sotheby's. London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork: Early Chinese Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008

Lot 252. A fine and rare large 'Ding''Lotus' bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 26cm., 10 1/4 in. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 GBP. Lot sold 48,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

each of the six gently curved petal-shaped lobes springing from a short straight foot, freely incised to the interior with a lotus medallion encircled by leafy scrolling lotus, covered overall in a clear ivory glaze, the rim copper bound.

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London (paper label to the base). 

Literature: 'Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao', The Bulletin of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 25, 1953, Stockholm, 1953, pls. 75, 76, 81, fig. 66.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 409.

Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 63a.

Sotheby's. London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork: Early Chinese Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008

Lot 264. A fine 'Ding' moulded 'Boys' bowl, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234), 20.7cm., 8 1/8 in. Estimate 3,000 — 4,000 GBP. Lot sold 48,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

the deep rounded sides rising from a short straight foot, finely moulded to the interior with a central medallion enclosing a qilin seated on an island surrounded by tumultuous foaming waves looking up at the crescent moon and star formation, encircled in the well by three young boys clad only in short frocks amidst scrolling leafy peony and a key-fret band at the rim, covered overall in a clear ivory glaze falling in characteristic tear-drops to the exterior, the rim copper bound.

Literature: 'Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao', The Bulletin of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 25, 1953, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 90, fig. 78.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 457.

Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 92b, fig. 21a.

Sotheby's. London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork: Early Chinese Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008

Lot 243.  A rare 'Ding' incised 'mallow' dish, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 14.2cm., 5 1/2 in. Estimate 1,200 — 1,500 GBP. Lot sold 48,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

 Heroes of Stone by Leo Caillard and Peter Kolus

Hipsters in Stones by Leo Caillard

Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564), Study of a Mourning Woman. Pen and brown ink, heightened with white, 26 x 16.5 cm.

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today the most important acquisition in the history of the Museum’s Department of Drawings. Acquired as a group from a British private collection, the 16 drawings are by many of the greatest artists of western art history, including Michelangelo, Lorenzo di Credi, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Rubens, Barocci, Goya, Degas, and others. From the same collection, the Museum has acquired a celebrated painting by the great eighteenth-century French artist Jean Antoine Watteau. 

“This acquisition is truly a transformative event in the history of the Getty Museum,” said Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “It brings into our collection many of the finest drawings of the Renaissance through 19th century that have come to market over the past 30 years, including a number of masterpieces that are among the most famous works on paper by these artists: Michelangelo’s Study of a Mourning Woman, Parmigianino’s Head of a Young Man, and Andrea del Sarto’s Study for the Head of St Joseph (the highlight of the Getty’s recent exhibition on that artist). It is very unlikely that there will ever be another opportunity to elevate so significantly our representation of these artists, and, more importantly, the status of the Getty collection overall.” 

“Beyond the core of Renaissance through Rococo works, our modern holdings too are magnificently enhanced by one of Goya’s late, bizarre subjects, The Eagle Hunter, and Degas’s majestic pastel After the Bath (Woman Drying Herself).” 

Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530),  Study for the Head of St. Joseph, ca. 1526–27. Red and black chalk, 14 11/16 x 8 11/16 in. (37.3 x 22 cm).

Potts added, “No less exciting for the Department of Paintings is the addition of one of Watteau’s most famous and canonical works, La Surprise. It was indeed a very welcome surprise when this lost masterpiece reappeared ten years ago in Britain. And one can see why: the act of seduction portrayed in the painting is matched only by the artist’s delicately flickering brushwork – the combination of titillating subject and charming rendition that made him the most esteemed painter of his day. It will be very much at home at the Getty, where it crowns our other exceptional eighteenth-century French paintings by Lancret, Chardin, Greuze, Fragonard, and Boucher.” 

La Surprise is a fête galante, a popular genre depicting outdoor revelry that Watteau invented and which epitomizes the light-hearted spirit of French painting in the early eighteenth century. The scene features a young woman and man in passionate embrace seemingly oblivious to the musician seated next to them. He is Mezzetin, the trouble maker, a stock comic character from the commedia dell’arte. Throughout Watteau’s short but illustrious career – he died when he was only 27 years old – the characters of the commedia dell’arte figured prominently in his paintings, often mingling with elegant contemporary figures in a park or landscape. 

Highly admired in the eighteenth century, the painting was thought lost and for centuries was known to art historians only from a 1731 engraving and a copy in the British Royal Collection. In 2007 it was found in an English private collection, becoming the most important work by Watteau to be rediscovered in recent times. 

“La Surprise exemplifies Watteau’s delightful pictorial inventions, brilliant brushwork, and refined, elegant compositions,” said Davide Gasparotto, senior curator of paintings at the Getty Museum. “It is undoubtedly one of the most exquisite and important Watteau paintings to become available in modern times. We are now able to present to the public a seminal genre of French eighteenth-century painting in a masterwork by its inventor. La Surprise will no doubt become one of our most beloved and recognizable paintings.” 

Jean Antoine Watteau (French, 1684 – 1721), La Surprise, ca. 1718. Oil on panel, 36.3 x 28.2 cm.

The painting and all of the 16 drawings were purchased as a group from a British private collection. The drawings are mostly Italian but there are also exceptional works by British, Dutch, Flemish, French, and Spanish artists. A nucleus of Italian Renaissance works anchors the group, including a rare and beautiful “cartoon” (full-sized direct transfer drawing for a painting) by Lorenzo di Credi; one of Andrea del Sarto’s finest drawings (from the collection of artist-writer Giorgio Vasari); and Michelangelo’s powerful pen and ink study of a mourning woman, a famous discovery made at Castle Howard, England in 2000. 

Other highlights include Parmigianino’s exquisite ink drawing of the head of a young man; Savoldo’s Study for Saint Peter; Beccafumi’s Head of a Youth; and Sebastiano del Piombo’s Study for the Figure of Christ Carrying the Cross. From the post-Renaissance period, the collection also features a masterful head study of Saint Joseph by Barocci; Rubens’s powerful oil-on-paper study of an African man wearing a turban; Cuyp’s panoramic View of Dordrecht, one of the great landscape drawings of the Dutch Golden Age; and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s drawing Punchinello Riding a Camel at the Head of a Caravan, a brilliant example of the narrative mastery for which Tiepolo was admired. 

Goya’s The Eagle Hunter, a darkly satirical brush and ink drawing depicts a hunter wearing a metal cooking pot for a helmet while precariously suspending himself over a cliff to try to snatch young eagles from a nest. 

Degas, arguably the greatest draftsman of the nineteenth century, is represented by two drawings, a sheet with two chalk studies of ballet dancers, used by the artist for no fewer than three paintings, and a large and startlingly bold pastel showing his unrivalled innovation in that medium. 

“Any one of these sheets on its own is truly extraordinary and would be a worthy and meaningful acquisition for the Getty. Together, the 16 drawings form an unparalleled roll call of the ‘best of the best,’ with iconic sheets by some of the world’s most celebrated artists,” said Julian Brooks, senior curator of drawings at the Getty Museum. “This powerful group of works represent the finest aspects of Western art history captured on paper. I am eagerly anticipating sharing these masterworks with our visitors as well as our international scholarly and museum community.” 

While the majority of works are currently at the Getty Museum, some are still pending export licenses from the U.K. Research on further drawings from the same collection, with a view to possible acquisition, is currently underway. Plans are also proceeding to display the group together at the Getty Museum in a special installation in the near future. 

The 16 drawings are: 

· Study of a Mourning Woman, about 1500-05, by Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564) 

· The Head of a Young Boy Crowned with Laurel, about 1500-05, by Lorenzo di Credi (Italian, c. 1457-1537) 

· Heads of Two Dominican Friars, about 1511, by Fra Bartolommeo (Italian, 1472-1517) 

· Study for the Head of Saint Joseph, about 1526-27, Andrea del Sarto (Italian, 1486-1530) 

· Study for the Figure of Christ Carrying the Cross, about 1513-14, by Sebastiano del Piombo (c. 1485-1547) 

· The Head of a Young Man, about 1539-40, by Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) (Italian, 1503-1540) 

· Head of a Youth, about 1530, by Domenico Beccafumi (Italian, 1484-1551) 

· Study for Saint Peter, about 1533, by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo (Italian, c. 1480-1540) 

· Head of Saint Joseph, about 1586, by Federico Barocci (Italian, c. 1535-1612) 

· The Head of an African Man Wearing a Turban, about 1609-13, by Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) 

· Panoramic View of Dordrecht and the River Maas, about 1645-52, by Aelbert Cuyp (Dutch, 1620-1692) 

· Punchinello Riding a Camel at the Head of a Caravan, late 1790s, by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Italian, 1727-1804) 

· The Eagle Hunter, about 1812-20, by Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828) 

· The Destruction of Pharaoh’s Host, 1836, by John Martin (British, 1789-1854) 

· Two Studies of Dancers, about 1873, by Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917) 

· After the Bath (Woman Drying Herself), about 1886, by Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917).

Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917), After the Bath. Pastel on paper, laid down on board, 72 x 58 cm.

Martinus Rørbye, Loggia on Procida, 1835. Photo: Anna Danielsson/Nationalmuseum.

STOCKHOLM.- Nationalmuseum has acquired two Italian scenes by Danish golden age artists: Loggia on Procida by Martinus Rørbye (1835) and The Temple of Minerva at the Forum Nervae by Constantin Hansen (circa 1840). Each piece in its way represents some of the finest work produced by north European artists on their travels to the south. What is more, the two paintings are unusually effective in expressing the strong emotions experienced by the artists on a personal level as a result of their encounters with the atmosphere and architecture of the south. 

Rørbye and Hansen were two of the most prominent artists in early 19th-century Denmark, during the golden age that began around 1810 and continued into the 1860s. This half-century saw the creation of great artworks and a widespread flourishing of creativity in the realm of culture and science, in spite of the worst conditions imaginable. The economy was in a miserable state, and Copenhagen was in ruins after bombardment by the British navy. These impoverished times spawned an art that transformed water into wine by depicting quite unremarkable everyday scenes and localities with a passion and depth that created immortal images. The foundations of this art were laid by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and his pupils, among them Martinus Rørbye and Constantin Hansen. 

The two newly acquired oil sketches are exquisite examples of how the artist brings out the potential in an apparently humdrum scene by emphasising certain features. In Martinus Rørbye’s case, the subject is a simple loggia on the island of Procida off the coast of Naples. Three years earlier, in 1832, the Norwegian artist Thomas Fearnley had visited the same loggia and painted it from practically the same spot. Since the two artists were socially acquainted in Rome, Rørbye had probably seen Fearnley’s painting and felt drawn to the place. Judging by Rørbye’s painting, he was not disappointed by the reality; rather, it seems to have induced a mood of sheer lyricism. The painting acquired by Nationalmuseum is the one painted on location, the first of three versions. According to Rørbye’s diaries, which are in the process of publication, the artist kept this first version to hand as a model when reworking the scene in Italy. The treatment of light and shadow and the way it conveys the special character of the place make this sketch one of the more lyrical examples in golden age art of how the painter’s gaze could be transposed to the canvas. 

Constantin Hansen travelled to Italy in late 1835. Even before departure, his explicit objective was to devote himself to architectural motifs and ornamental painting. Hansen had started out studying architecture in Copenhagen before switching to an artistic career. During his early days in Rome, he complained in his letters home that the large exhibition pieces he was working on were taking up all his time. He would have preferred to devote his efforts to subjects that appealed to him on a more personal level. A number of sketches in this vein exist from Hansen’s decade in Rome, conveying the artist’s strong emotional response to certain places and buildings. The sketch of the temple of Minerva is a perfect example of the artist’s ability to translate his impressions into an image in a short space of time. The artist’s sensuous experience of the façade seems inseparable from the act of painting. Hansen’s depiction of the motif is perhaps best described as a declaration of love. The inspiring nature of this painting is surely why it was once owned by Janus La Cour, one of the artists who, in the 1860s, transformed Danish art by letting the painting itself and the brushwork play a more prominent role in creating the image. 

The purchase of these works has been made possible by a generous donation from the Wiros Fund. Nationalmuseum has no budget of its own for new acquisitions, but relies on gifting and financial support from private funds and foundations to enhance its collections of fine art and craft.

Constantin Hansen, The Temple of Minerva at the Forum Nervae, circa 1840. Photo: Anna Danielsson/Nationalmuseum.

Lot 242. A rare yellow-ground turquoise and aubergine-glazed 'dragon' dish, Wanli six-character mark within double-circles and of the period (1573-1619), 11 in. (28 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 40,000 - GBP 50,000. Price realised GBP 55,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Decorated on the biscuit in turquoise, green and aubergine, with two confronted five-clawed scaly dragons with heads turned towards the rear divided by a band of clouds, above foaming waves crashing against rockwork, the cavetto with a band of six dragon roundels alternately ascending and descending, the exterior with sprays of peach, pomegranate, prunus and peony, all on a mustard-yellow ground.

Provenance: T.T. Tsui Collection, no. TS 1. 

Note: A dish of similar size and design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum - Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book III, Cafa Company, Hong Kong, 1966, pp. 64-5, pls. 19a-b. For further examples of dishes with similar colour palette and decorated with dragons, see Ding Xujun, Ming qing you shang cai hui ci qi, Shanghai, 2004, no. 88., and another in the National Museum in China illustrated in Shanhai guji chu ban she, Studies of the Collections of the National Museum of China, Shanghai, 2007, no.103. Compare with another dish of the same design in the Percival David Foundation Collection, illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Collection, Yomiuri Shimbun, Osaka, 1998, p. 95, no. 64. Another illustrated example of the same design can also be found in Pan Jialai, Zhongguo chuan tong ci qi, Beijing, 2006, p.57. See also the single dish sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1 December 2010, lot 3120; and the pair of dishes sold in these rooms, 11 June 1990, lot 199.

Dish with dragons, Ming dynasty, Wanli mark and period, AD 1573–1620, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with on-the-biscuit green, yellow, aubergine and black enamels. Height: 49 millimetres; Diameter: 273 millimetres. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF.790 © Trustees of the British Museum

The same distinctive palette can be seen on a Wanli-marked 'dragon' jar sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 26 April 2004, lot 1000; and also on an altar set in the British Museum illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 341, nos. 11:170, 11:171 and 11:172.

Altar set, Ming dynasty, Wanli mark and period, AD 1573–1620, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with on-the-biscuit green, yellow, aubergine and black enamels. British Museum, 1930,1017.1, 1930,1017.2, 1930,1017.3 © Trustees of the British Museum

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 10 May 2011, London

Lot 243. A rare blue and white and iron-red moulded 'lotus' dish, Wanli underglaze-blue six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1573-1619), 8 1/8 in. (21 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 35,000 - GBP 45,000. Price realised GBP 49,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Crisply moulded as an open lotus bloom supported on a low straight foot, with two rows of overlapping petals encircling a central medallion enclosing a Tibetan/Sanskrit character bordered by bands of ruyi heads, the inner row of petals painted with trefoil motifs on the rounded tips and each thinly outlined with iron-red enamel, the outer lotus petals forming a barbed rim, the exterior painted with Tibetan/Sanskrit characters alternating with flower sprays above a row of projecting petal tips rising from a further narrow band of overlapping petals.

Provenance: The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, no. MPN018. 

Note: A similar dish with iron-red outlines is illustrated in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C.Ko Tianminlou Collection: Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 45.

Other examples of lotus-form bowls with Wanli marks are illustrated by J. Ayers, The Baur Collection, vol. II, Geneva, 1969, no. A185; by Wang Qing-zheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Shanghai, 1987, pl. 101; by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 313. Other recorded examples include one in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 11, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1982, no. 91. Another bowl of Wanli date, but unmarked, in the Institut Neerlandais, Paris, is illustrated by D. Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, New York, 1978, pls. 215 and 215a, where the author notes that these bowls were probably intended to hold offerings in Lamaist Buddhist temples.

Compare, also, the dish formerly in the Jingguantang Collection, sold in our New York Rooms, 20 March 1997, lot 81; and one sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 27 May 2009, lot 1868. 

A late Ming blue and white moulded 'Lotus' dish,  Wanli six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1573-1619), 7 5/8 in. (19.4 cm.) diam. Sold for HKD 312,500 at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2009, lot 1868. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 10 May 2011, London

Lot 259. A late Ming blue and white 'Three Friends of Winter' jar, Wanli underglaze-blue six-character mark and of the period (1573-1619), 7½ in. (19 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 20,000 - GBP 30,000. Price realised GBP 43,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Painted around the exterior with the 'Three Friends of Winter', pine, prunus and bamboo, growing from rocks and breaking waves, the coiling stems forming stylised auspicious characters 'Fu Shou Kang Ning', (prosperity, longevity, health and peace), interspersed with stems of lingzhi, all below a band of further scrolling lingzhi stems at the shoulder, the short cylindrical neck encircled by upright leaves.

Note: This pattern originated from the Jiajing period. Other Wanli-marked versions of this jar include an example exhibited at the Oriental Ceramic Society, London, Chinese Blue and White, 1954, catalogue no. 182; and another of larger size (23.5 cm.) from the Jingguantang Collection, sold in our New York Rooms, 16 September 1998, lot 365. Compare a similar Jiajing-marked jar, previously from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Clark, sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 28 November 2005, lot 1426.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 10 May 2011, London

Lot 261. A blue and white 'Windswept' jar, guan, 15th-16th century, 10 in. (25.3 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000. Price realised GBP 43,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011 

Of baluster form, painted in underglaze cobalt blue with an official on horseback between two attendants carrying various utensils, approaching a tiered pavilion in a landscape with dense scrolling clouds, all between a band of upright leaves and classic lotus scroll. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 10 May 2011, London

Lot 816. A large blue and white ‘Windswept’ jar, guan, Ming dynasty, mid-15th century, 13¾ in. (35 cm.) high. Estimate $80,000 – $100,000. Price Realized: USD 100,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2014

Heavily potted and of baluster form, the jar is deftly painted around the sides in the ‘windswept’ style with Daoist imagery, with a scene of two men playing weiqiwhile an imposing figure with a halo around his head, possibly Laozi holding a ruyi scepter, sits between them observing. To one side Xiwangmu is seen holding a tray of peaches between two female attendants holding feather fans, and to the other side a scholar holding a gnarled staff looks back at two attendants carrying a box and a cloth-wrapped qin. All are in a landscape setting below a band of billowing clouds and above a band of breaking waves. The shoulder has panels of lotus sprigs reserved on a diaper ground below a band of further diaper on the short, tapering neck.

Provenance: The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.

Note: The present jar belongs to a group of large blue and white jars and meiping of 14th-16th century date depicting figures in landscapes and garden settings, that are taken from traditional literature and popular drama. The panoramic landscape scene is comparable to handscroll paintings of the early Ming period, although on ceramics the painting required the joining of scenes by a series of stylized cloud scrolls to create an element of continuity.

Lot 2113. A blue and white 'Windswept'meiping, late 15th century, 14 1/16 in. (36 cm.) high. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 50,000. Price Realized: USD 90,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2014

The sides are painted in 'windswept' style with a continuous scene of a scholar followed by an attendant carrying a cloth-wrapped qin standing in a landscape framed above by scrolling clouds, and set between a band of upright leaf tips below and two graceful, leafy branches of rose and tree peony on the shoulder above, all within double-line borders.

Provenance: Private collection, Kyoto, acquired in the 1950s-60s.

Note: The style of painting on this vase and others like it, commonly known as 'windswept', refers to the way in which the sashes of the figures flutter in the breeze. All of these vases have a similar treatment of the clouds and landscape details and have decorative borders above and below the main band. Two meiping with similar decoration, in the Shanghai Museum, are illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, Shanghai, 1987, pls. 73-74, and pp. 142-44. See, also, the similar example sold at Christie's New York, 19 March 2008, lot 574, which had lotus meander on the shoulder.

Lot 241. A rare blue and white ewer and cover, Ming dynasty, 15th century, 10¼ in. (26 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 25,000 - GBP 35,000. Price realised GBP 31,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011 

The ovoid body with tall flaring neck, slender S-scroll faceted spout and C-scroll handle, painted to the body with a wide band depicting an Immortal and attendant seated on rockwork below bamboo and weeping willow among clouds, the reverse with a figure on horseback with boy attendant carrying lanterns suspended from a pole, the neck with two phoenix in flight among clouds, all between borders of stiff leaves and classic scroll to the neck and a band of lappets to the foot, the handle and spout with interspersed pearls and flames, the cover in the form of a flowerhead.

Provenance: Formerly from the collection of Dr. Yamashita, 1920s. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 10 May 2011, London

Lot 3120. A very rare blue and white 'Dragon and Phoenix' ewer and cover, Wanli six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1573-1619), 7 7/8 in. (20.1 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,500,000 - HKD 2,500,000. Price realised HKD 2,440,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

The ewer is of compressed globular form with a long waisted neck below a galleried rim, surmounted by a cover with a flat surface and bud finial. It is painted in cobalt of vivid blue tones on each side of the body with a five-clawed dragon and pheonix contesting a flaming pearl among scrolling lotus, and around the neck with the 'Three Friends of Winter'. The elegantly curved spout and arched strap-handle are further decorated with detached florettes..

Provenance: Peter Boode Antiques, London, 1945, purchased for 85 pounds
Raymond F.A. Riesco Collection, no. 204a. 

Literature: Antique Collector, December 1946
London News, 16 November 1946
E.E. Bluett, The Riesco Collection of Old Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, circa 1951, p. 31, fig. 53
London Borough of Croydon, Riesco Collection of Chinese Ceramics Handlist, Croydon, 1987, p. 12, no. 104 

Exhibited: Oriental Ceramic Society, London, Ming Blue-and-White Porcelain, 24 October - 21 December, 1946, Catalogue, no. 65
Oriental Ceramic Society, Loan Exhibition of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain 14th to 19th Centuries, London, 16 December 1953 - 23 January 1954, Catalogue, no. 176
The Arts Council of Great Britain and Oriental Ceramic Society, The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, London, 15 November - 14 December 1957, Catalogue, no. 144 

Note: The present ewer is very rare as it is preserved with its original cover, and is exceptional for its particular brilliant tone of the cobalt blue. There is only one other nearly identical example known, which is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei and illustrated in Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book VI, Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 4.

The combination of the dragon and phoenix motif, symbolic of imperial supremacy, with the 'Three Friends of Winter', symbolic of lofty literati ideals, on this ewer, is highly unusual. This intriguing juxtaposition is rarely seen on earlier ceramics and appears only on a few imperial wares from the Wanli period, such as a blue and white covered box and a blue and white jar in the Huaihaitang Collection and illustrated in Enlightening Elegance. Imperial Porcelain of the Mid to Late Ming, Hong Kong, 2012, pls. 108 and 117.  

Christie's. The R.F.A Riesco Collection of Important Chinese Ceramics, 27 November 2013, Hong Kong

Lot 3111. An important and rare blue and white moonflask, bianping, Xuande six-character mark in a line and of the period (1426-1435), 9 5/8 in. (24.5 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 20,000,000 - HKD 30,000,000. Price realised HKD 28,120,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

The elegant flask is well potted with a flattened, but slightly domed, circular lower section and a globular upper section narrowing to a short neck and a mouth contracting to match the width of the waisted area between the upper and lower sections of the vessel. The flask stands on a rectangular foot and has strap handles on either side, joining the neck and shoulders of the vessel, with petal-shaped terminals on the shoulders. The six-character mark is written between two sets of double lines below the mouth rim. Around the upper bulb is a mixed floral scroll, including dianthus, which entered the Chinese decorative repertoire from the Near East. Both of the circular flattened sides are bordered by 'half cash' bands, surrounding a different arabesque roundel on each side. At the centre of the arabesque roundel on one side is a yinyang symbol surrounded by petals, while on the other side at the centre is a small roundel containing alternately sized inward-pointing petals inside a triple-line circle. Each of the handle terminals is decorated with a floral spray.

Provenance: French Ambassador to Peking
John Frederick Woodthorpe (1897-1966)
Sold at Sotheby's London, 6 April 1954, lot 25
Raymond F.A. Riesco Collection, no. 220s. 

Literature: Antique Collectors, December 1957
Sir Harry Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1954, p. 23, pl. 31A
London Borough of Croydon, Riesco Collection of Chinese Ceramics Handlist, Croydon, 1987, p. 11, no. 87  

Exhibited: Oriental Ceramic Society, Loan Exhibition of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain 14th to 19th Centuries, London, 16 December 1953-23 January 1954, Catalogue, no. 91

A Meeting of East and West - Early Double Gourd Moonflasks
Rosemary Scott - International Academic Director, Asian Art

For most connoisseurs of Chinese ceramics the so-called moonflasks are classic Chinese porcelain forms. However, the form has a surprisingly long history in Western art, although it is probable that the Chinese early Ming dynasty form was inspired either by metalwork or glass of the Islamic era.1 However, one of the earliest flattened circular flasks with handles joining the mouth of the vessel to the shoulder on either side of the neck can be traced back to the ancient world. Perhaps the most famous versions of this form, sometimes referred to as a 'stirrup jar', is the unglazed pottery flask decorated with an octopus painted in dark brown, which was found among the late Minoan artefacts at Palaikastro on the island of Crete. The Minoan flask dates to about 1500 BC, and thus was contemporary with the Shang dynasty in China.2

One version of the Chinese ceramic moonflask shape, which has no upper bulb, but simply a circular body with rounded edges looks as though should have its origins in two bowls being stuck together rim to rim, although in fact the early Chinese form is luted horizontally, not vertically. The Minoan flask, however, appears to have been made in precisely the former method, and the foot of the bowl can be seen in the area of the octopus's eyes. Although somewhat less flattened than some of the later vessels from various other cultures, early pottery flasks such as the Minoan example must have been their ancestors. Examples of slightly later vessels are the flattened circular flasks from Nineveh - in this case with their handles on the shoulders - dating to the Parthian period (150 BC-AD 250), which is roughly contemporary with the Han dynasty in China.3 Looking at the carved and pecked decoration on certain of these Parthian vessels, some scholars have suggested that it is reminiscent of stitching, and harks back to the shape's origins in leather, although the twin-bowl Minoan vessel from more than a thousand years earlier should be borne in mind. 

A number of glazed pottery flasks of flattened circular form with handles on either side of the neck are found among Sassanian ceramics (AD 224-642). A small Sassanian flask with turquoise glaze, from Sus, in the Iran Bastan Museum, is close to the Parthian example, and reasonably close to one of the early fifteen century Chinese porcelain vessels - the strap handles joining the lower part neck, if not the mouth.4 A green glazed earthenware pilgrim flask, also from Sus, dates to the Sassanian period (AD 224-642), and is also in the collection of the Iran Bastan Museum, Teheran.5 This flask has flat encircling sides forming a relatively sharp junction with the front and back circular panels, which are noticeably domed, similar to later metalwork examples, and also similar to the lower section of the Riesco flask. Interestingly a similarly shaped flask - circular with sharp angles to flat sides - was made in China during the Liao dynasty (916-1125), and a green-glazed example - without handles, but with six loops spaced around the flat sides for suspending the vessel from a saddle - was excavated from a tomb in Inner Mongolia in 1965.6 Unlike most early circular flasks this vessels stands on a rectangular foot similar to that on the Riesco flask. 

A number of similarities can be seen between this 10th-11th century vessel and both the flattened double-gourd flasks made in China in the Yongle and Xuande reigns - such as the Riesco example - and the large, flat-backed Chinese porcelain flasks without an upper section, which were made in the early 15th century, with loop handles on the sides of the vessel.7 

A distinct foot can also be seen on a green glass flask in the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait (fig .1).8 This is a Syrian flask from the late 7th or early 8th century - contemporary with the Tang dynasty in China, and was made of mould blown and cut glass. A vessel of identical form was found in an excavation at Tarsus in south-eastern Anatolia in the 1930s, in a context with Umayyad and early Abbasid pottery. The handles attach only to the lower part of the neck of this vessel. Although these glass forms could have made their way to China, as Near Eastern glass was much appreciated in the Tang dynasty, metalwork seems a more likely inspiration for the specific form of the Riesco flask. There is a somewhat larger Syrian brass canteen, dating to the mid-13th century, in the collection of the Freer Gallery, Washington,9 which is of very similar form to the lower section of the Riesco flask and has close similarities with the single section, flat-backed flask sold by Christie's in November 2007 (fig. 2). Interestingly the brass canteen is decorated with Christian imagery as well as calligraphy, geometric designs and animal scrolls. This Syrian mid-13th century brass canteen in the Freer Gallery appears to be the only published example of such a metal vessel, but it shares a number of features with the form of the Riesco porcelain flask, having both a bulb-shaped mouth and similarly S-form handles.  

fig .1. Green glass flask, Tareq Rajab Museum,  Kuwait

When the flattened flasks with upper and lower section in double-gourd form appear in porcelain at the Chinese Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in the early 15th century, they appear with two distinct proportions, and in both plain white and blue and white. The larger vessels with a height of about 30 cm tend to have a smaller upper bulb in proportion to their lower, flattened, section, while the smaller version, with a height of about 25 cm. tend to have a more generous upper bulb in proportion to the lower, flattened, section. A plain white example of the larger type from the Yongle reign (1403-24), which was excavated from the early Yongle stratum at the Imperial kilns, is illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 92-93, no. 5. A blue and white Yongle flask of the smaller size is in the collection of the British Museum.10 This flask has the same decoration as the Riesco Xuande example. Another example of the smaller type is in the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection (fig. 3). Although large and smaller flasks decorated and undecorated were made in the Yongle and Xuande periods, the Yongle vessels usually stand on an oval foot, while the Xuande examples usually have a rectangular foot. The Yongle vessels do not have reign marks, while some of the Xuande flasks, such as the Riesco example, have the reign mark written in underglaze blue in a horizontal line below the mouth.

It has been suggested by some authors that these flasks, particularly the blue and white examples with decoration clearly inspired by Islamic arabesques, were made solely for export to the Islamic West. However, one crucial piece of evidence suggests that this is not entirely true. A shard from one of these flasks, bearing the same decoration as the Riesco vessel was excavated from the Yongle/Xuande stratum at the site of the early Ming dynasty Imperial Palace in Nanjing.11 Clearly these elegant flasks were also appreciated by the Chinese court in the first half of the 15th century. 

1 As argued by B. Gray in 'The Influence of Near Eastern Metalwork on Chinese Ceramics', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 18, 1940-41, p. 57 and pl. 7F.
2 Illustrated on http://www.ceramicstudies.me.uk/frame 1 tu5.html. also in Spyridon Marinatos and Max Hirmer, Crete and Mycenae, New York, 1960, pl. 87.
3 A number are preserved in the collection of the British Museum.
4 The World's Great Collections - Oriental Ceramics, Vol. 4, Iran Bastan Museum Tehran, Tokyo, 1981, colour plate 12.
5 Ibid., black and white plate no. 101.
6 See Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan - Taoci juan, Taipei, 1994, p. 164, no. 560.
7 One of these latter vessels was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1664.
8 Illustrated on http://www.trmkt.com/glassdetails.htm.
9 Illustrated on http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/islamic/artofobject1b.htm.
10 Illustrated by J. Harrison Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 110, no. 3:21.
11 See A Legacy of the Ming, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 48, no. 52.

Christie's. The R.F.A Riesco Collection of Important Chinese Ceramics, 27 November 2013, Hong Kong

Gourd-shaped flask, Ming dynasty, Xuande mark and period, AD 1426–35, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration. Height: 260 millimetres. Sir Percival David Foundaion of Art, PDF 600 © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum

Lot 3113. An exceptionally rare blue and white 'Boys' bowl, Chenghua period (1465-1487), 8 1/2 in. (21.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 7,000,000 - HKD 10,000,000. Price realised HKD 9,640,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

The bowl is of deep, rounded form, skilfully painted in soft tones of underglaze cobalt blue with a continuous scene of boys playing in a balustrade garden beneath scrolling clouds. A double line encircles the mouth, while a keyfret band encircles the foot.

Provenance: A.D. Brankston (1909-1941)
H.R.N. Norton, London, 1953
Raymond F.A. Riesco Collection, no. 220m 

 Auspicious Wishes for Sons and Grandsons
Rosemary Scott - International Academic Director, Asian Art

The depiction of children in Chinese art has its roots in Buddhist beliefs, influenced by Daoism. However, by the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907) images of healthy young boys at play were no longer confined to religious art and were already a popular secular theme on the Chinese decorative arts, being viewed as an auspicious symbol associated with the wish for sons and grandsons, and thus the continuation of the family line as well as the prosperity of the family. Boys at play, especially carrying lotus flowers or leaves can be seen painted on late 8th-early 9th century stonewares from the Changsha kilns, such as the 9th century ewer excavated at Changsha, Hunan in 1983.1 Little boys playing in a garden can also be seen in repousee work within ruyi-shaped cartouches on a small Tang dynasty silver three-legged jar excavated in Jiangsu province.2 The depiction of young boys at play became even more popular on the ceramics of the Song and Jin dynasties (AD 960-1279, and AD 1115-1234, respectively), when particularly lively examples were painted on the upper surfaces of Cizhou pillows. These pillows were, however, usually decorated with only one child at play, as in the case of the example in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York, on which is painted a small boy riding a hobby horse made of bamboo.3

The theme of groups of children at play does not seem to have been much employed in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) or in the early Ming in the reign of the Hongwu emperor (1368-98), but appears on rare, wide, porcelain bowls of the Yongle reign (1403-24), such as that in the Tianminlou collection decorated with sixteen boys playing in a garden (fig. 1).4 A similar arrangement of the design can be seen on wide bowls of the Xuande reign (1426-35), such as those in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.5 In the Chenghua reign, similar depictions of sixteen children are painted on deeper bowls with less wide mouths, such as the current example. This decorative theme remained popular thereafter.

fig. 1. Blue and white 'Boys' bowl, Yongle reign (1403-24), Tianminlou collection.

The Chenghua Emperor, who came to the throne at the age of eighteen, was greatly concerned about his lack of a male heir. His favourite, powerful, consort, Lady Wan Guifei was some seventeen years older than the emperor, and, after losing her own child, was determined that none of his other consorts would usurp her position by producing an heir to the throne. She therefore took drastic measures to ensure that no other woman in the palace gave the emperor a son. Eventually one consort, Lady Qi, succeeded in hiding her pregnancy and sequestered her son until he was five years old to protect him from Lady Wan. The child survived to succeed the Chenghua Emperor, taking the reign name Hongzhi (1488-1505). Aware only of his lack of male heirs, particularly in the latter part of his reign, the Chenghua Emperor favoured decoration that included auspicious messages regarding sons and grandsons. 

While the boys on the current bowl are engaged in play of different kinds, their activities have also been carefully chosen for their auspicious connotations. For example one boy is depicted holding a lotus leaf over the head of another like a parasol. While the parasol might imply his future high rank, the lotus leaf also provides a rebus or visual pun. One word for lotus in Chinese is lian which is a homophone for a word meaning continuous or successive, and thus combined with a boy child suggests the successive birth of sons and grandsons. Another Chinese word for lotus is pronounced he, which sounds like the word for harmony, suggesting that there will be harmony among the sons and grandsons. Four other boys on the bowl are depicted grouped around a fish bowl - one holding a fish he has caught, while others have their hands in the water attempting to catch fish. In Chinese the word for fish is pronounced yu, the same as a word for abundance and so suggesting wealth. The word for fish also sounds like the word for jade, while the fish being caught by the boys are probably intended to be gold fish - suggesting jade and gold. These two precious materials also great suggest wealth. 

In another group a small boy holds a writing brush in one hand and a sprig of flowering cassia in the other. This suggests scholarly achievement, since in China the writing brush was regarded as a symbol of scholarly pursuits and a successful official career. Legend has it that the highest successful candidate in the imperial examinations would be awarded a sprig of cassia by Chang E, the moon goddess. Another of the boys holds a fly whisk, which is associated with whisking away contamination and the problems of the world - suggesting that his life will be pure and trouble free.

Further around the bowl another boy is shown riding a hobby horse made of bamboo. This has several auspicious connotations. The term 'on top of a horse' mashang also means 'immediately', and so a young boy riding a horse suggests the imminent birth of a boy. The horse is additionally a symbol of peace. The bamboo from which the hobby horse is made is also a symbol of peace, but in addition it symbolizes humility, fidelity and particularly integrity. Another of the boys on the bowl appears to be playing with an insect called a katydid in English and guoguo in Chinese, which is close in pronunciation of the term for a brother, and suggests the phrase jiao gege - calling for a brother - indicating that a family has more than one son. 

Thus, while the scene on this bowl is visually pleasing and charmingly painted, all its symbolism refers to the birth of many sons and grandsons, who will have intelligence, integrity, and a harmonious long life - precisely reflecting the wishes of the emperor during whose reign the bowl was made. 

1 Illustrated by W. Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, New York, 1984, fig. 95.
2 Illustrated in Tang dai jin yin qi, Beijing, 1985, no. 208.
3 Illustrated in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989 revised edition, p. 94, no. 89.
4 Illustrated in Chinese Porcelain - The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 43, no. 15.
5 Illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1977, nos. 63 and 64.