Giovanni Antonio Canaletto (Italian, 1697-1768), The Grand Canal in Venice from Palazzo Flangini to Campo San Marcuola, c. 1740. Oil on canvas. Bequest of Miss Tessie Jones in memory of Herschel V. Jones. Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Minneapolis— The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) presents the first-ever exhibition to focus on view paintings as depictions of contemporary events. “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe” features approximately 40 paintings from the golden age of European view painting. Commissioned by rulers, princes, and ambassadors, master view painters such as Antonio Canaletto, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Bernardo Bellotto, and Francesco Guardi recorded memorable events, ranging from the spectacular Venetian carnival to an eruption of Vesuvius; in the process, they produced some of their most significant works. Many of the themes and events depicted—including the introduction of political leaders into office, natural disasters, and major sporting events—have parallels today, and the emotions they evoke remain the same. On view September 10 through December 31, 2017, “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth Century Europe” is co-organized by J. Paul Getty Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Cleveland Museum of Art.

“’Eyewitness Views’ offers a captivating view of why and how Venice, Rome, and other European centers of power and grandeur made history,” said Patrick Noon, Elizabeth MacMillan Chair of Paintings at Mia. “With this exhibition, visitors can encounter bygone worlds of gaudy refinement and imposing spectacle as mediated by many of Italy’s most celebrated painters of the eighteenth century.”

Featured paintings depict many of Europe’s most recognizable cities, including Venice, Rome, Naples, Paris, Warsaw, and Madrid. Vividly detailed and gorgeously painted, these grand canvases transport viewers to sites—such as Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome or onto a gondola floating along the Grand Canal in Venice during a regatta—where they could experience what it was like to be a witness to history.

Unique to Mia’s installation, Thomson Reuters has provided Reuters photos of iconic events to be incorporated into the display to connect visitors to the themes of the exhibition and contemporary life.

Giovanni Paolo Panini (Italian, 1691-1765), The Consecration of Giuseppe Pozzobonelli as Archbishop in San Carlo al Corso, 1743-44. Oil on canvas. Musei Civici di Como. Image: Pinacoteca Civica Como.

Exhibition Themes and Highlights

“Eyewitness Views” is organized according to four thematic sections:

Memory and Manipulation: Explores whether view painters were faithful chroniclers, capturing events just as witnessed, or if they manipulated reality to meet the expectations of the status-conscious clientele.

Highlights: Michele Marieschi’s Doge Pietro Grimani Carried into Piazza San Marco after his Election (about 1741); Francesco Battaglioli’s King Ferdinand VI and Queen Barbara of Braganza in the Gardens at Aranjuez on the Feast of Saint Ferdinand (1756).

Michele Marieschi (Italian, 1710 – 1744), Doge Pietro Grimani Carried into Piazza San Marco after his Election, 1741. Oil on canvas. Galerie G. Sarti, Paris.

Civic and Religious Ritual: Examines some of Europe’s historic events, religious feast days, and public rituals. Whether sacred or secular, these occasions were filled with civic pride.

Highlights: Giovanni Antonio Canaletto’s Venice: Feast Day of Saint Roch (about 1735); Bernardo Bellotto’s Procession of Our Lady of Grace in Front of Krasinski Palace (1778).

Bernardo Bellotto (Italian, 1772-1780), Procession of Our Lady of Grace in Front of Krasinski Palace, 1778. Oil on canvas. Royal Castle in Warsaw – Museum. Image: Andrzej Ring\The Royal Castle in Warsaw.

Festival and Spectacle: Showcases the no-expense-spared pageantry and entertainment in Venice and Rome in the 1700s, including the ceremonial regatta and celebrations of royal births and marriages.

Highlights: Giovanni Paolo Panini’s The Musical Performance in the Teatro Argentina in Honor of the Marriage of the Dauphin (1747); Luca Carlevarijs’ Regatta on the Grand Canal in Honor of Frederick IV, King of Denmark (1711).

Luca Carlevarijs (Italian, 1663-1730), Regatta on the Grand Canal in Honor of Frederick IV, King of Denmark, 1711. Oil on canvas. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Disaster and Destruction: Presents scenes of devastation caused by warfare, fire, natural disaster, and political turmoil. This grouping stands apart by downplaying the presence of rulers and nobility in favor of the lower classes.

Highlights: Pierre-Jacques Volaire’s The Eruption of Vesuvius (1771); Hubert Robert’s The Fire at the Opera House of the Palais-Royal (about 1781).

Johan Richter (Swedish, 1665-1745), Bridge for the Feast of Santa Maria della Salute, before 1728. Oil on canvas. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund. Photo: Allen Phillips\Wadsworth Atheneum

Giovanni Antonio Canaletto (Italian, 1697-1768), The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day, about 1745. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art: The William L. Elkins Collection, 1924.

Giovanni Paolo Panini (Italian, 1691-1765), Interior of St. Peter’s with the Visit of the Duc de Choiseul, 1756-57. Oil on canvas. The Collection of the Boston Athenaeum, Purchase, 1834 (UR12).

Antonio Joli (Italian, 1700-1777), The Popular Revolt in Largo di Castello During the Famine, 1764-68. Oil on canvas. Kunsthistorisches Museum. Image: KHM, Wien.

Lot 19. A rare and magnificent blue and white ewer, Yongzheng seal mark and period (1723-1735). Height 10 in., 25.5cm. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's

inspired by a metalwork prototype, elegantly potted with a broad cylindrical body molded with two ribbed fillets between two registers of molded chrysanthemum petals, rising to a rounded shoulder and waisted neck with a bulbous mid-section and flaring gently to a broad spout, finely painted in an early Ming style with simulated 'heaping and piling' with detached foliate panels and sprays encircling the body, the neck with bands of varying stylized florets, the rim with floral tassels suspending from ruyi heads, the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Note: This exceptionally rare and elegant ewer represents the height of early Qing porcelain production at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province. Made during the reign of the Yongzheng emperor, it illustrates the emperor’s pursuit of innovative designs and forms as well as the replication of historical masterpieces as a reminder of the nation’s glorious past. Such developments were realized through the exceptional talent and creativity of potters working under the instruction of Tang Ying (1682-1756), the most accomplished superintendent at Jingdezhen during the early Qing period. 

The distinctive form of this ewer is likely derived from European or Middle Eastern metalwork, although the model on which is was based is still to be identified. Whilst its intended purpose is also unknown, this form is known as huajiao or flower watering jug, although the shape is equally well suited to pouring wine. The form clearly found favor with the Yongzheng emperor, as a range of examples, both with and without handles, can be found in blue and white as well as with monochrome glazes. 

Compare a closely related ewer of the same form and design in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang. Qing dai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], vol. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 44 (fig. 1); and two closely related handled ewers, also in the Beijing Palace Museum, the first with scattered floral sprays encircling the bulbous middle section of the neck, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, vol. 3, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 109; the other with a floret scroll band at the neck, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang. op. cit., pl. 43. Further related examples include one sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 26th October 1993, lot 169 and illustrated in Imperial Perfection. The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors. A Selection from the Wang Xing Lou Collection, Hong Kong, 2004, pl. 8, and another, formerly in an English private collection, sold at Christie's London, 7th November 2006, lot 196.  

A blue and white ewer, Yongzheng seal mark and period© The Palace Museum, Beijing.

A very rare and important blue and white ewer, huajiao , underglaze blue Yongzheng six-character sealmark and of the period (1723-35). Sold for £344,000 ($654,632) at Christie's London, 7th November 2006, lot 196. © Christie's Image Ltd 2006.

For examples applied with a white glaze, see one formerly in the collections of Sir Harry Garner and Edward T. Chow, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. II, London, 1994, pl. 794, and another in the Grandidier Collection in the Musée Guimet in Paris, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Greatest Collections. Musée Guimet, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 170; and a third in the Palace Museum illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang. op. cit. pl. 90. 

Arrosoir à décor floral, Chine, Jiangxi, Jingdezhen, Dynastie Qing, période Yongzheng (1723-1735). Porcelaine Bleu et blanc à décor en relief. H. : 26 cm ; D. : 15,5 cm ; Paris, musée Guimet - musée national des Arts asiatiques, Collection Grandidier, G 3984  © Réunion des musées nationaux

Arrosoir à décor floral, Chine, Jiangxi, Jingdezhen, Dynastie Qing, période Yongzheng (1723-1735). Porcelaine Monochrome blanc à décor secret anhua. H. : 25 cm ; D. : 15,8 cm ; Paris, musée Guimet - musée national des Arts asiatiques, Collection Grandidier, G 3351 © Réunion des musées nationaux

A handled example applied with a flambé glaze, also in the Qing court collection, is illustrated in op. cit, pl. 143; another was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 21st March 1979, lot 101. A ewer of this form but applied with a teadust glaze is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 244. A number of incised celadon-glazed ewers of similar form have been sold at auction, including one with a handle, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th May 1980, lot 80; and one without a handle, sold in these rooms, 15th June 1983, lot 316, and later at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2005, lot 1312. 

A fine and rare celadon-glazed ewer, Yongzheng six-character seal mark and period (1723-1735), 9 7/8 in. (25.1 cm.) high. Sold for HKD 6,840,000 at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2005, lot 1312, and for HKD 14,440,000 at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3305. © Christie's Image Ltd 2005.

Inspired by Near Eastern metalwork, the ewer is incised with a central floral scroll flanked by raised lines and moulded bands of petals at the shoulder and above the low splayed foot, the base of the slender neck with a further floral scroll between concentric bands, and the neck moulded with a central horizontal flange incised with stylised flowerheads, dividing pendent tasselled lappets and stiff leaves rising to the curved spout, covered inside and out with a pale celadon glaze thinning slightly at the extremities, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Sold at Sotheby's New York, 15 June 1983, lot 316
The Estate of Ruth P. Phillips
Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2005, lot 1312

Note: The distinctive shape of this ewer is modelled after an early Ming blue and white prototype, which in turn is based on Islamic metalwork, used originally as a hand-cleansing vessel before worship. On early Ming examples, the chased and inlaid decorations on Islamic metal vessels are recreated as painted motifs in underglaze blue, such as a Yongle blue and white handled ewer painted with floral scrolls in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 51. During the Qing dynasty, this was further re-interpreted in the form of blue and white and monochrome-glazed ewers like the present lot, either with or without handles. 

Near identical ewers of this rare Islamic-influenced form include one in the Grandidier Collection in the Musee Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha Series, vol. 7, pl. 170; one in the Avery Brundage collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li, Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, San Francisco, 1996, pl. 544; one sold at Christie's London, 3 December 1973, lot 254, and illustrated by A. du Boulay, Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, Oxford, 1984, p. 217, fig. 9; and another from the Fuller Collection, sold at Christie's London, 28 June 1965, lot 98. 

Francis Bacon, Head with Raised Arm (1955), Oil on Canvas, 24 x 20in. (61 x 50.7cm.). Estimate: £7,000,000 - £10,000,000. © Christie’s Images Limited 2017.

Lot 22. A blue and white 'dragon' bottle vase, Jiaqing seal mark and period (1796-1820). Height 11 1/8  in., 28.4 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's

the compressed globular body surmounted by a tall cylindrical neck with a flared rim, finely painted with a large five-clawed dragon writhing amid flames and clouds, with its young below striding among crashing waves, the base with a six-character seal mark 

Provenance: Louis Joseph, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, late 1950s - early 1960s.

Note: Compare an almost identical vase, possibly the pair to the present lot, sold at Bonhams San Francisco, 16th December 2014, lot 8331. 

A blue and white bottle vase with dragons and clouds, Jiaqing mark, late Qing dynasty; 11 1/4in (28.5cm) high. Sold for US$ 317,000 (€258,164) at Bonhams San Francisco, 16th December 2014, lot 8331. Photo Bonhams.

Molded with a flared rim to the long neck and body of compressed pear form raised on the flared foot, the walls painted with two dragons facing one another amid clouds and waves set between a cloud collar band below the rim and a squared S-scroll band along the foot, the recessed base bearing the six-character mark in seal script and all surfaces except the foot pad covered with a lustrous celadon-tinged glaze.

Note: For a Jiaqing mark and period vase of similar form but decorated with three dragons contending for a single pearl and shorter in size, see Gugong bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji, 2010, vol. 36 (Qinghua youli hong), cat. no. 143, p. 157 (17.4cm high).

A blue and white Jiaqing mark and period vase of the same form and painted with the same borders, but with numerous striding and writhing dragons amidst cloud scrolls, in the Qing Court Collection is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, vol. III, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 143.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 13 Sep 2017, 10:00 AM

Lot 25. A rare yellow and green-enameled blue and white 'lotus' vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Height 8 5/8  in., 22 cm. Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's

the pear-shaped body with a slightly compressed belly, elegantly rising to a waisted neck and flared mouth, painted in deep underglaze-blue tones with a composite lotus and chrysanthemum scroll around the body, framed by a lappet collar below and ruyi-head and C-scrolls borders at the shoulder, the neck accentuated with upright lappets below further ruyi and classic scroll borders below the rim, the foot encircled by a keyfret band, all reserved on a yellow-enameled ground with three of the borders applied with a green wash, the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue, the enamels later added 

Note: Blue and white vases of this type, each with variations of the decorative bands and the Qianlong mark written in kaishuscript, include a slightly smaller example, from the collection of Sir Harry and Lady Garner, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society Loan exhibition of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, 14th to 19th Centuries, London, 1954, cat. no. 312, sold in our London rooms, 8th-9th July 1974, lot 308, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th October 2011, lot 1922; another sold at Christie's London, 4th November 2008, lot 205. Compare also a smaller vase, but with a slightly broader neck and a Qianlong seal mark on the base, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd May 1995, lot 72, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th May 2007, lot 1467.

Lot 307. The Vivien Leigh diamond bow brooch, mid 19th century. Estimate 25,000 — 35,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

designed as a bow suspending an articulated tassel, set with circular-cut and cushion-shaped diamonds, pendant and detachable brooch fittings, fitted case stamped S.J. Phillips; diamonds, silver, gold; approximately 61 x 81mm.

Sotheby's. Vivien: The Vivien Leigh Collection, London, 26 Sep 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 295. Vivien's natural pearl and diamond earrings. Estimate 7,000 — 9,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

each set with a bouton pearl measuring approximately 11.7 x 11.9 x 9.8mm and 12.8 x 13.3 x 10.9mm respectively, within a frame of brilliant-cut diamonds, screw fittings. Quantity: 2 - natural pearls, diamonds; each diameter approximately 17mm.

Accompanied by a gemmological report.

natural pearls, diamonds
each diameter approximately 17mm

Lot 289. The Vivien Leigh chrysoberyl demi-parure, 18th century. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

comprising: a devant-de-corsage designed as a bow suspending a detachable pendant, set throughout with foil-backed circular-cut, cushion- and pear-shaped chrysoberyls; and a pair of earrings of similar design,pendants detachable, screw fittings. Quantity: 6 - brooch with Portuguese assay mark, chrysoberyl; devant-de-corsage approximately 64 x 87mm, earrings approximately 47mm each.

Note: A photograph by Grey Villet from December 1962 shows Vivien Leigh wearing the brooch from this parure whilst rehearsing with Jean Pierre Aumont for the Broadway musical play Tovarich (1963), which earned Leigh a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (The LIFE Picture Collection; Getty Images). She also appears in numerous press photographs of the period wearing the earrings which were often favoured for evening wear by her, most famously, on the occasion of the re-premiere of Gone With the Wind in Atlanta in 1961.

Alexander James, ‘The Great Leveller’, 2010, from ‘Vanitas’, Chromogenic print, mounted to polished aluminium plate, Face mounted with museum grade ar acrylic, 19 x 25 cm. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

LONDON.- Nature Morte seeks to illustrate how leading artists of the 21st century have reinvigorated still life, a genre previously synonymous with the 16th and 17th centuries. This major exhibition will be one of the largest ever presented at the Guildhall Art Gallery with works displayed by artists including Mat Collishaw, Michael Craig-Martin, Gabriel Orozco and Marc Quinn. 

The exhibition is the final stop on a highly acclaimed European tour, and the only opportunity for UK audiences to view this show. The London exhibition will also be augmented with a number of new works from London-based artists including Clare Twomey and Michael Raedecker.  

 George Walter, Peaches and Grapes, 1864. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

The still life, or nature morte, has been a constant subject throughout the history of art, its significance changing over time. As an independent genre of painting, the still life came into its own in the mid-seventeenth century when the Flemish term stilleven first came to be applied to oil paintings characterised by their tight focus on an assortment of objects sitting on a flat surface. Nature Morte is very different in tone from exhibitions we would usually expect to see at Guildhall with over 100 pieces from different disciplines going beyond the two-dimensional, including sculpture, digital, and sound. 

Nature Morte displays a visually enticing selection of artworks as viewers are confronted with the questions, what is real and what is representative. Cindy Wright’s paintings of food challenge the viewer with the reality that eating meat and fish comes at a cost, the death of once-living creatures. The bloody, gutted fish coiled within a goldfish bowl stares out of the frame in an accusatory fashion. Meanwhile, Nancy Fouts incorporates taxidermy animals into her surreal works; Still life + real life (2011) is a seemingly classic still life of a flower arrangement yet on closer inspection a painterly collage with butterflies emerges. 

Henri Fantin-Latour, White roses in a glass vase, 1875. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery. 

This exhibition also includes prominent British artists such as Mat Collishaw; his startling photograph Last Meal on Death Row, Texas (Juan Soria), (2011) is part of a series staged to resemble seventeenth-century depictions of food or lavish spreads. In actual fact it documents the last meals requested by prisoners on death row in the United States. Each work is named after the prisoner who asked for the featured dish for their last meal. 

Graham Packham, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Culture, Heritage and Libraries Committee, comments ‘Nature Morte’ at Guildhall Art Gallery will put a modern spin on still life which, for many people, conjures up images of food, wine glasses, flowers and dead animals in art work dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. The artists featured in this new show, which will take over the gallery’s main exhibition spaces, will bring still life right up-to-date with sculpture, sound, and digital art. With over 100 pieces of visually engaging contemporary art work, ‘Nature Morte’ will be a must-see for all art lovers. 

Janne Malmros, Unfold, 2007, floral pattern on a period, English oak foot-stool, cut out in one piece and arranged on wall, 35 x 96 x 107 cm. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery. 

Contemporary works in Nature Morte explore the timeless themes of life, death and the irrevocable passing of time in our modern world. The artworks invite us to pause and reconsider what it means to be human. The exhibition puts a new spin on the traditional topics of still-life - flora, fauna, the domestic object, food and vanitas. 

Nature Morte is based on Michael Petry’s recent Thames & Hudson book of the same name. It brings together historic still life paintings and contemporary art works that seek to use the language of the past for modern audiences. 

Michael Petry, curator and director of Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) London, comments, It is a great privilege to present London’s ever expanding art audience with the final version of what has been a great exhibition tour. We are so excited about the new version created just for the Guildhall Art Gallery and look forward to sharing it as it is the culmination of a wonderful three year project. 

Saara Ekström, Clouded Yellow Bud, 2007, stop frame animation transferred on DVD, loop. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Jim Skull, Untitled, 2009, papier maché, perles de verre 1930, 90 cm. Photo C.Lebedinsky. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Jim Skull, Mr Smith, 2009. Photo C.Lebedinsky. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Jim Skull, Untitled, 2010, papier maché, raphia tressé, 130 cm.© the artist, Photo C.Lebedinsky. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Nancy Fouts, Rabbit with Curlers, 2010, taxidermy rabbit, curlers and kirby grips, 10 × 15 cm (3 78 × 5 78 in.). Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Nancy Fouts, Still life + real Life, Painting with butterflies, 2011, 47 x 41 x 5 cm. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Mat Collishaw, Last Meal on Death Row, Texas (Juan Soria), 2011, C-type photographic print, Frame Red Grandis timber, rubbed back with black lacquer finish, 89 x 64 cm (35 x 25 ¼ in). Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Roberto Ekholm, The Healer, 2012, plaster, resin, neodymium magnets, iron filings, printed ink on paper, 25 x 20 x 19 cm. Courtesy Roberto Ekholm & Pattie Campbell. Photo by Gunnar Tufta. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Paul Hazelton, Fright Wig, 2013, household dust, wool dusting stick, adhesive, 450(h) x 195(w) x 195(d) mm. Photograph: caplio/Paul Hazeltonweor. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Victoria Reynolds, Globular Cluster, 2015, Oil on canvas (framed) 42.1 x 52.2 cm overall (16.5 x 20.5 in.) Photographer Brian Forrest. Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery.

Lot 1120. A Qingbai melon-form box and cover, Northern Song dynasty, 11th-12th century, 3 ½ in. (9 cm.) high. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The box and cover are potted in the form of a melon with tall lobed sides, the cover applied with a stem-form finial, and the whole covered overall with a transparent glaze of pale aquamarine tone with the exception of the base and rims.

Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 13 September 2002.
Peter Scheinman (1932-2017) Collection, New York.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1122. A Qingbai ewer and cover, Northern Song dynasty, 11th-12th century, 9 in. (22.8 cm.) high. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The body is potted with eight vertical lobes that rise to an overlapping lotus petal collar at the base of the trumpet neck, and a leaf is incised at the base of the curved spout and strap handle. The cover is surmounted by a Buddhist lion finial and has a small rectangular cut-out flanked by two tiny holes on one side to fit over the handle. The ewer and cover are covered overall with a transparent, pale aqua glaze.

Provenance: J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 27 September 2000.
Peter Scheinman (1932-2017) Collection, New York.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1126. A rare carved Qingbai lotus-form bowl, cover and stand, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), 5 ½ (20.6 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The rounded conical bowl is carved on the exterior with fine radiating lines rising to a band of small raised dots in imitation of stamen, and the slightly domed cover is molded in the shape of a mature lotus pod. The stand with wide flared sides is carved inside and out with overlapping lotus petals, and decorated in the recessed center with a lotus flower. All are covered with a pale blue glaze.

Provenance: China Gallery, New York, 4 March 2005.
Peter Scheinman (1932-2017) Collection, New York.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1137. A rare carved Qingbai archaistic tripod censer, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, 13th-14th century, 5 ½ in. (14 cm.) high. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 25,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The censer is raised on three ribbed legs surmounted by animal masks, and carved with archaistic motifs reserved on combed bands on the sides and neck below a pair of angular bail handles that rise from the everted rim, and is covered inside and out with a pale blue glaze, except for a circular area in the center of the interior and the base.

Provenance: Christie's New York, 21 September 2004, lot 226. 
Peter Scheinman (1932-2017) Collection, New York.

Note: A qingbai tripod censer of larger size (17 cm. high) raised on similar tall legs surmounted by animal masks and also with two small rectangular handles, but carved with a floral design, was excavated in 1991 from a Southern Song hoard in Jingyu Village, Suining City, Sichuan province, and is illustrated in China's Jingdezhen Porcelain through the Ages, Beijing, 1998, p. 103. Another qingbai tripod censer carved with the Eight Trigrams, excavated in 1964 at Jingdezhen, is now in the Jingdezhen City Museum Collection, and illustrated, op. cit, p. 108. See, also, the pair of qingbai pear-shaped vases dated to the 13th-14th century with phoenix-head handles which, like the present tripod censer, are carved with rather eccentric interpretations of designs found on archaic bronzes, illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, p. 332, no. 619.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York 

Lot 1160. A very rare carved Qingbai'Phoenix' ewer, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), 12 ½ in. (31.8 cm.) high. Estimate USD 60,000 - USD 80,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The bulbous body rises to a tapering ribbed neck surmounted by a phoenix head, and has a strap handle opposite the short, curved spout. The ewer is covered overall in a glaze of pale blue tone, Japanese wood box inscribed by Koyama Fujio (1900-1975).

Inscriptions by Koyama Fujio on box.

Provenance: In Japan prior to 1975.

Note: The form of the present ewer was inspired by earlier sancai-glazed Tang-dynasty phoenix-head ewers, which were themselves inspired by Sassanian metalwork vessels. Many of the qingbai examples were exported to Southeast Asia, including several known pieces such as the example at the Brooklyn Museum, illustrated by A. Poster in Journey through Asia: Masterpieces in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, 2003, p. 59, no. 9. See, also, two examples from Indonesia illustrated by Gakuji Hasebe in Ceramic Art of the World, Tokyo, 1977, pp. 31 and 295, no. 24 and fig. 180.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1166. A carved Qingbai vase and cover, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), 6 ½ in. (16.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The slender body of the vase is carved with overlapping lotus lappets surmounted by a short neck with four lug handles and is covered in a semi-translucent glaze of pale bluish-green tone pooling in the recessed areas, and stopping irregularly at the recessed foot. The floriform cover is topped with a curly stem-form finial and a lug, cloth box.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1167. A molded Qingbai'Phoenix' bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), 7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The bowl is molded on the center with a pair of ducks in a lotus pond, surrounded by a band of a pair of phoenixes amidst floral sprays. The unglazed mouth rim has remnants of a silver band, cloth box.

Note: Two qingbai bowls of the same size with similar design are in the collection of The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities and illustrated by J. Virgin in Sung Ceramic Designs, London, 1970, P. 61 and 260, pl. 24 (a & b).

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1168. A rare pair of carved Qingbai 'Day Lily' vases, Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279), 10 ½ in. (26.7 cm.) high. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 50,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Each vase is elegantly carved and combed on the tapering body with day lilies below the tall, ringed neck and the widely everted mouth, and is covered with a translucent glaze of pale greenish-blue tone pooling in the recessed areas, cloth box.

Note: The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test, P106y63, is consistent with the dating of this lot.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1169. A carved Qingbai shallow 'Boys' bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), 8 in. (20.3 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The interior of the bowl is fluidly carved with a scene of two boys amidst flowers and it is covered overall with a translucent glaze of pale blue tone which pools in the recesses, except for the underside of the foot, cloth box.

Note: Jan Wirgin, in Sung Ceramic Design, London, 1979, pp. 179-81, discusses the origin of the boys among foral scrolls motif, citing the influence of Indian cave art and the Buddhist motif of the reborn souls on lotus flowers from the Tang period. By the Song dynasty, when the design was immensely popular on wares in various materials such as silver, bronze, textile and jade, and at different ceramic kilns including Yaozhou and Ding, it is clear that it had become a popular motif suggesting fertility and abundance.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1162. A brown-spotted Qingbai jar and cover, Song dynasty (960-1279), 13 3/8 in. (34 cm.) high. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The lower body of the jar is carved with overlapping petals beneath the shoulder which is applied with 'lotus pod' medallions alternating with four pinched handles that surround the wide neck topped with a bulbous mouth. The pagoda-shaped cover is potted with a flared edge and is decorated with further 'lotus-pod' medallions and two tiers of lotus petals crowned with a lotus bud-form finial. The whole is covered with a finely crackled translucent glaze highlighted with brown iron oxide decoration around the neck, handle and cover, except for the unglazed base and edge of the foot which fired slightly orange, cloth box.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York