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A rare dated white-glazed box and cover, Song dynasty, dated 1089

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A rare dated white-glazed box and cover, Song dynasty, dated 1089

Lot 502. A rare dated white-glazed box and cover, Song dynasty, dated 1089; 12.5cm., 4 7/8 in. Estimate 400 — 600 GBP. Lot Sold 11,250 GBP. Photo courtesy Sotheby's 2008

the circular body with straight sides rising from an angled flat base to an incurved rim, the straight-sided domed cover with four lobes, covered overall with a glossy straw-white glaze, the unglazed base incised Yuanyu si nianQuantity: 2.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvard, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 403.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 05 Nov 08. London

A 'Huozhou' white-glazed dish, Song dynasty (960-1279)

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A 'Huozhou' white-glazed dish, Song dynasty (960-1279)

Lot 511. A 'Huozhou' white-glazed dish, Song dynasty (960-1279); 13.3cm., 5 1/4 in. Estimate 350 — 450 GBP. Lot Sold 2,500 GBP. Photo courtesy Sotheby's 2008

the finely lobed rounded sides rising from an angled base and short spreading foot to a broad flaring rim, moulded to the interior with a peony spray and covered overall with an ivory-white glaze falling short of the foot to reveal the white body.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvard, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 436.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 05 Nov 08. London

Sotheby's to offer the Richard R. & Magdalena Ernst Collection of Himalayan Art

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A Mandala Depicting Kalachakra And Vishvamata. Tibet, first half 16th Century, 54.6 x 49.5 cm. Estimate $700/900,000. Courtesy Sotheby’s.

NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s will present The Richard R. & Magdalena Ernst Collection of Himalayan Art. An unrivalled compilation of painting and sculpture, the collection of art from the Himalayas, ranging from the 12th through the 18th centuries, is one of the most significant to come to auction. With highlights now on view in a special exhibition at Sotheby's Zurich office, the full collection will be unveiled in the auction house's New York headquarters on 15 March, ahead of the dedicated auction on 22 March at 10am. 

Richard R. and Magdalena Ernst noted: “From the moment we laid eyes on the thangka of four Arhats in Kathmandu, we knew that Tibetan Art would form the heart of our collection. The region’s rich culture, spontaneous nature of creativity, and philosophical strength drew us in, and has kept us firmly engaged over the last fifty years. By sharing this collection with admirers in Zurich, New York, and beyond, we hope to spread the joys that collecting Southeast Asian Art has brought us with many others”. 

Yamini Mehta, Senior Director, International Head of Indian and South Asian Art, commented: “Marked by connoisseurship, taste and passion, the Ernst Collection of Himalayan Art is extraordinary in its depth and captivating in its beauty. Thoughtfully curated by Richard and Magdalena Ernst over the course of five decades, we are privileged to present their vision this spring. The first dedicated auction of its kind in over 12 years, the auction promises to be a remarkable event in the field of Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art.” 

RICHARD R. & MAGDALENA ERNST 
Born and raised in Winterthur, Switzerland, Nobel Laureate Richard Ernst grew up passionate about the fine arts and the sciences. He pursued the latter as a career, first as a graduate of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and later as a PhD student of Professor Gunthard. Focusing on the intersection of chemistry and physics, Mr. Ernst devoted extensive time and research to high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In the years that followed, he travelled to the United States to work for Varian Associates in Palo Alto, whose distinguished alumni include Weston A. Anderson, Ray Freeman and Jim Hyde. 

Before returning to Switzerland to lead the NMR research group at the Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie of ETH-Z, and where he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991, Mr. Ernst and his wife Magdalena travelled extensively through Asia. A trip to Kathmandu in March 1968 stirred their passion for Asian Art, specifically for Himalayan thangkas and Buddhist manuscripts from Mongolia. Since that momentous visit, and subsequent purchase of a thangka depicting four Arhats in a floral landscape, Mr. and Mrs. Ernst have together compiled one of the most important and renowned collections of Buddhist and Bön paintings from Tibet and Nepal. 

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS

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A Thangka Depicting Rinchen Zangpo, Tibet, circa 1200, 93 by 72 cm. Estimate $1.5/2 million. Courtesy Sotheby’s.

One of the largest, early Tibetan portrait paintings to have survived, this 13th century thangka of a Lama is remarkable for its condition, color and quality. Previously exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., this outstanding painting is the pinnacle of early religious portraiture from Tibet. 

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A Thangka Depicting Four Kagyu Hierarchs, Tibet, circa 1225, 80 by 55.5 cm. Estimate $800/1,200,000Courtesy Sotheby’s.

A second exquisite example of the Ernst’s collection of portraits is this rare 13th century depiction of four monks. The work, dated circa 1225, was also featured in The Art Institute of Chicago and the Smithsonian’s exhibition Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure.

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A Thangka Depicting Two Taklung Lamas, Tibet, circa 1300, 52 by 40 cm. Estimate $250/350,000Courtesy Sotheby’s.

Depicting two Taklung Lamas in conversation with one another, this double portrait from circa 1300 beautifully encapsulates the respect awarded to accomplished religious teachers in Tibetan history. A painting from this same series can be found in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection..

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A Mandala Depicting Kalachakra And Vishvamata, Tibet, first half 16th Century, 54.6 by 49.5 cm. Estimate $700/900,000Courtesy Sotheby’s.

Highlighted in Huntington and Bangdel’s 2003 The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, this vibrant and hypnotic mandala is a stunning and exquisitely detailed illustration of the religious and meditative experience of Buddhist art.

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A Thangka Depicting The Eighth Dalai Lama, Jampal Gyatso, Tibet, circa 1762, 88 by 61 cm. Estimate $300/500,000Courtesy Sotheby’s.

Featured in the 2005 exhibition, The Dalai Lamas: A Visual History, at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich, this large thangka is a superb example of Lhasa style. Framed in its original 18th century Chinese mount, this painting is in excellent condition.

A very rare wucai sweetmeat box and cover, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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A very rare wucai sweetmeat box and cover, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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Lot 1620. A very rare wucai sweetmeat box and cover, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620); 24.2 cm., 9 1/2 in. Est. 1,000,000 — 1,200,000 HKD. Lot Sold 1,640,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2009

the domed cover vibrantly painted with six sinuous ascending and descending dragons in underglaze blue, iron-red and green enamel, separated by pierced cash symbols, reserved on a ground of flames and lotus scroll painted in blue, iron-red, yellow and green, surmounted by a finial knop decorated with upright plantain leaves, the box similarly painted with four striding dragons, the interior of the box divided into a central circular walled compartment surrounded by eight smaller segments, the rims of both box and cover encircled with a key-fret border, the fifth claw of the yellow and iron-red enamelled dragons effaced.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 9th July 1974, lot 248.
Manno Art Museum, no. 442.
Christie's Hong Kong, 28th October 2002, lot 539.

LiteratureSekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, Japan, 1976, pl. 108.

NoteThis box and cover appears to be the only published example, although there are several similar variations.  Compare a related box and cover sold in our London rooms 15th July 1957, lot 186 and another in the R.F.A Riesco Collection, Mostra D'arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 722.  Also see Ryoichi Fujioka, Min no Akae, Toj Taikei, vol. 43, Heibonsha,Tokyo, 1972, colorplate 25, and a box painted with dragons and phoenix sold in these rooms, 12th June 1984, lot 248. 

Similar boxes with different polychrome designs can be found in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, one with butterflies among flowers and rocks, illustrated the Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 109; the other with fish, crabs and waterplants, Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 205. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 08 Oct 09. Hong Kong  

An unusual blue and white 'Dragon' bowl with red clouds, mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521)

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An unusual blue and white 'Dragon' bowl with red clouds, mark and period of Zhengde

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Lot 58. An unusual blue and white 'Dragon' bowl with red clouds, mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521); 15.5 cm., 6 1/8 in. Est. 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 4,340,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

with slightly flared conical sides rising from a sharp angle above the low foot, painted around the outside in a soft underglaze blue with two five-clawed dragons with split curling tails among iron-red clouds, with a blue key-fret border below the rim and a broad blue band around the foot, the inside plain white and engraved with a similar dragon in the centre and two more around the well, the base inscribed with a four-character reign mark.

Provenance: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London (A 705).
Sotheby's London, 15th October 1968, lot 110.
Sotheby's London 14th December 1982, lot 190.
Collection of Eugene O. Perkins.
Christie's New York, 2nd June 1989, lot 13.
Collection of Irene and Peter Scheinman.
Christie's New York, 23rd March 1995, lot 100.

ExhibitedBorn of Earth and Fire: Chinese Ceramics from the Scheinman Collection, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 1992, cat. no. 82 (illustrated).
Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 133 (illustrated).

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1680.

Note: This pattern is unusual, both in the way the dragons are depicted (compare the more traditional Zhengde dragons, lot 60), and in its colour combination, where the red clouds appear almost like an afterthought. They do, however, form an integral part of this pattern. The companion piece to this bowl still belongs to the Sir Percival David collection and is now on display in the British Museum, London, see Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 6, no. 126; another is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from the Herzman collection, see Suzanne G. Valenstein, The Herzman Collection of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1992, cat. no. 83; one from the Koger collection has been published in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics. The Koger Collection, London, 1985, pl. 56. Eight bowls of this description are listed in the catalogue of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, Gugong ciqi lu [Record of porcelains from the Old Palace], Taipei, 1961-6, part  II, vol. 2, p. 77; and another bowl, broken and repaired with metal rivets, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pl. 137. 

Bowl with dragon, Ming dynasty, Zhengde mark and period, AD 1506–21

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Bowl with dragon, Ming dynasty, Zhengde mark and period, AD 1506–21. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue and overglaze iron-red decoration, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, 6,4 x 15,7 cm. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF A706 © Trustees of the British Museum

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong 

A white mallow-shaped brush washer, mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521)

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A white mallow-shaped brush washer, mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521)

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Lot 59. A white mallow-shaped brush washer, mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521); 19.6 cm., 7 3/4 in. Est. 4,000,000 — 6,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 4,820,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

the flaring sides with ten foliations of mallow-petal shape, all covered with a thick smooth transparent glaze, the base inscribed with a four-character reign mark in underglaze blue.

ProvenanceCollection of Eumorfopoulos (C.165).
Collection of Lord Cunliffe (PM 119).

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 688.

Note: White brush washers of this distinctive mallow shape were first designed in the Yongle period, although no complete example may have survived from that period. A broken vessel excavated from the imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen was included in the exhibition Jingdezhen Zhushan chutu Yongle guanyao ciqi [Yongle Imperial porcelain excavated at Zhushan, Jingdezhen], Capital Museum, Beijing, 2007, cat. no. 11. 

The pair to the present piece, also once in the Eumorfopoulos, Cunliffe and T.Y. Chao collections, was sold three times in our rooms, in London 30th May 1940, lot 315; and in these rooms, 20th May, 1980, lot 60 and again 19th May 1987, lot 251; one from the collection of Nancy and Ira Koger, illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding, Beijing, 1993, p. 116, fig. 216, was also sold three times in our rooms, in London 9th December 1986, lot 222, in New York 27th November 1990, lot 8, and here in Hong Kong 26th October 1993, lot 58; and two similar washers from the Carl Kempe collection, published in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, nos. 687-8, were sold in our Paris rooms, 12th June 2008, lots 46 and 50.

A washer of this design from the Chinese imperial collection, supported on a wooden stand is depicted in the handscroll Guwantu ('Pictures of Antiques') in the Sir Percival David Collection, now in the British Museum, London, which is dated in accordance with AD 1728; see China. The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005-6, cat. no. 168.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong 

A blue and white 'Dragon' zhadou, Mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521)

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A blue and white 'Dragon' zhadou, Mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521)

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Lot 60. A blue and white 'Dragon'zhadou, Mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521); 15.5 cm., 6 1/8 in. Est. 1,500,000 — 2,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 2,660,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

with rounded body, wide trumpet-shaped neck and splayed foot, painted with three pairs of five-clawed dragons among scrolling lotus, distributed over the interior and exterior of the neck and the body and shown in different attitudes, with a ruyi border at the foot, the base inscribed with a four-character reign mark.

ProvenanceChristie's London, 5th April 1976, lot 161.

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 686.

Note: This dragon-and-lotus design is by far the most characteristic ornamentation of Zhengde imperial porcelains, where it also appears on dishes, bowls of two different forms, and stem bowls, and would seem to represent something like the official pattern of the period. 

For a similar piece in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Minji meihin zuroku [Illustrated catalogue of important Ming porcelains], Tokyo, 1977-8, vol. 2, pl. 92; for one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 12, pl. 147; one in the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum is published in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 6, pl. 124; and another from the Lauritzen collection in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, op.cit., vol. 8, pl. 228. A similar piece from the collections of L.F. Hay, H.M. Knight, and Frederick Knight, included in the exhibition Oosterse Schatten. 4000 Jaar Aziatische Kunst, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1954, cat. no. 247, was sold three times in our rooms, in London, 16th June 1939, lot 99, in Hong Kong, 18th May 1982, lot 30, and in New York, 15th June 1983, lot 278. A matching dish, also in the Meiyintang collection is published in Krahl, op.cit., vol. 4, no. 1679; a deep bowl and another dish of this design in the Shanghai Museum are illustrated in Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pls 3-77 and 3.78.

Zhadou jar with dragons amid lotus scrolls, Ming dynasty, Zhengde mark and period AD 1506–21

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Zhadou jar with dragons amid lotus scrolls, Ming dynasty, Zhengde mark and period AD 1506–21. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, 12,2 x 15,5 cm. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF A682 © Trustees of the British Museum. 

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong

A finely incised Longquan celadon 'Lotus' meiping vase, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424)

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A finely incised Longquan celadon 'Lotus' meiping vase, Ming dynasty, Yongle period

Lot 46. A finely incised Longquan celadon 'Lotus'meiping vase, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424); 39 cm., 15 3/8 in. Est. 1,500,000 — 2,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 3,140,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

robustly potted in an elongated ovoid form with a short narrow neck above broad rounded shoulders tapering sharply to the flared foot, deftly incised on the body with two lotus bouquets, each composed of large blooms, a large and a small leaf, a pod and other water plants, their stems all bent and tied with a ribbon, set between a camellia scroll collaring the neck, a lingzhi scroll draping the shoulders, and a lotus-scroll band and key-fret skirting the waist, all beneath a glossy deep yellowish-green glaze.

ProvenancePrivate Collection, France.
J.J. Lally & Co., New York..

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1608 and p. 2, fig. 1b.

NoteThe similarity of Longquan celadons and Jingdezhen white, and blue and white porcelains in the Hongwu and Yongle periods has long been recognized, but only recently have excavations at the Longquan kiln sites supported the notion that imperial wares might have been made at Longquan, commissioned by the court in Beijing; and an exhibition organized by Ts'ai Mei-fen at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, has since confirmed the existence of much fine Longquan celadon ware in the palace collection. 

This meiping shape is characteristic of the Longquan kilns' production in the early Ming period, and an identical vase in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, was included in the exhibition Bilü– Mingdai Longquan yao qingci/Green – Longquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, cat. no. 68. The incised decoration is closely related to motifs developed at the Jingdezhen kilns, although the same design does not appear to be known from that manufactory. Kiln wasters of many related vases and matching covers have been excavated from the imperial Longquan kilns at Chuzhou, Zhejiang province, see Ye Yingting and Hua Yunong, Faxian: Da Ming Chuzhou Longquan guanyao [Discovery: Imperial ware of the great Ming dynasty from Longquan in Chuzhou], Hangzhou, 2005, pp. 39-101.

Compare also a vase of similar form carved with peach branches from the Edward T. Chow collection, sold in our London rooms, 16th December 1980, lot 323, and another with flowering branches and bamboo, sold in these rooms, 8th April 2006, lot 733, both with designs echoing blue-and-white prototypes. The same shape is better known from undecorated celadon vases, see, for example, a piece from the Yokogawa collection in the Tokyo National Museum, published in Tōkyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan zuhan mokuroku. Chūgoku tōji hen/Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo, 1988-90, vol. 2, pl. 486; and another from the collection of H.R.N. Norton in the exhibition Celadon Wares, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1947, cat. no. 104.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong


A rare 'sweet-white' (tianbai) yuhuchunping with lotus scrolls, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424)

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A rare 'sweet-white' (tianbai) yuhuchunping with lotus scrolls, Ming dynasty, Yongle period

Lot 49. A rare 'sweet-white' (tianbai) yuhuchunping with lotus scrolls, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424); 29 cm., 11 1/2 in. Est. 4,000,000 — 6,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 4,820,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

of broad pear shape with waisted neck, flared rim and low foot, decorated around the widest part with an incised lotus scroll with four large blooms among foliage, a border of billowing waves below and sprays of lotus, rose, peony and camellia at the neck below upright leaves and a classic-scroll border, leaving the uppermost area at the rim undecorated, all covered with a smooth white glaze.

ProvenanceSotheby's New York, 23rd September 1997, lot 263.

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1631.

Note: Monochrome white bottles of this form are surprisingly rare, as this shape is well known in the Yongle period in blue and white, and those that exist are rarely incised with a lotus design. A similar white bottle with incised pomegranate design is illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 60; another from the Baur Collection, Geneva, in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999, vol. 1, pl. 60; and a fragmentary piece with flower scroll design, converted in the Ottoman period into a drinking flask (matara) by addition of metal mounts, is published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray MuseumIstanbul, London, 1986, vol. 2, no. 635. A blue and white version is published in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1963, book 1, pp. 44f., pl. 2.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong

A rare blue and white tankard, Mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435)

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A rare blue and white tankard, Mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435)

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 Lot 53. A rare blue and white tankard, Mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435); 13.1 cm., 5 1/4 in. Est. 6,000,000 — 8,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 7,220,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

the shape following an Islamic metal or jade form, the globular body painted with a flower scroll with alternating lotus and hibiscus blooms between two petal borders, the wide, straight neck partly scalloped and painted with similar petals, separated from the body by a raised rib, the handle with a protruding flange and trefoil terminal showing scrollwork and a small aster spray, the recessed centre of the base inscribed with the six-character reign mark.

Provenance: Collection of Edward T. Chow (around 1950).
Collection of J.M. Hu. 
Sotheby's New York, 4th June 1985, lot 2..

LiteratureHelen D. Ling and E.T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, Hong Kong, 1950, vol. 1, pl. 38.
Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 674.

NoteTankards of this form and design were made, with minor variations, both in the Yongle and Xuande periods, the former existing also in monochrome white and being always unmarked. Close Islamic metal and jade counterparts are known from the 15th and 16th centuries, but the basic shape might be based on earlier Persian prototypes. A 10th- or 11th-century jug from eastern Iran and four 15th-century examples in bronze, copper and brass are illustrated in Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World. 8th-18th Centuries, London, 1982, nos. 8, 109, 113-4, 116, all of which have (or had), however, a ring foot.

A blue and white porcelain tankard of this design, of Xuande mark and period, from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 1, pl. 121; one in the Shanghai Museum in Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 3-27. Another tankard from the collection of Mrs. Wright Segelin, sold in our London rooms, 20th February 1968, lot 88 and again in these rooms 14th November 1989, lot 21, is illustrated in Nuno de Castro, A Ceramica e a porcelana Chinesas, Porto, 1992, vol.2, pl. 18; one from the collection of R.H.R. Palmer was sold at Christie's London, 14th June 1982, lot 81 and in these rooms 17th May 1988, lot 22; and one was recently sold in our Paris rooms, 16th December 2010, lot 33. A misfired and broken example has been recovered from the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, see the exhibition catalogue Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 23.

Two tankards of this design from the Chinese imperial collection, both safely displayed on encompassing wooden stands, are depicted in the handscroll Guwantu ('Pictures of Antiques'), in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which is dated in accordance with AD 1729; see China. The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005-6, cat. no. 169.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong

An exquisite blue and white 'fish pond' brush washer, Mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435)

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n exquisite blue and white 'fish pond' brush washer, Mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435)

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Lot 54. An exquisite blue and white 'fish pond' brush washer, Mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435); 18 cm., 7 1/8 in. Est. 40,000,000 — 60,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 51,060,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

of ten-lobed mallow shape with flared sides and correspondingly shaped foot, the domed base inside superbly painted in cobalt blue with a carp and a mandarin fish swimming among clumps of lotus and water weeds, the outside with four different fishes in varied attitudes among similar water plants, the fishes finely detailed with hatching and stippling and varied shades of blue to render their peculiar markings, lotus flowers and leaves in different stages, and the latter with veins finely incised through the blue to appear in white, the base inscribed with the reign mark.

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1653.

NoteBrush washers of this form are otherwise known almost only with dragons, phoenixes, or a combination of dragon and phoenix, which would seem to represent a version for official duties, while the present piece, with its scholarly associations may have been intended for the Emperor's 'leisure' activities, such as writing or painting which, although no less official occasions, were deliberately distinguished in character. The Xuande Emperor in particular was renowned as an accomplished poet and painter. The fish pond was of course a most appropriate pattern for a vessel meant to be filled with water.

A broken washer of this design has been recovered from the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, see the exhibition catalogue Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 19-2. Although the catalogue states, p. 202, that "this is one of the most common designs on Xuande imperial ware", only three other washers of this form and design appear to be recorded: one from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Clark, illustrated in A.D. Brankston, Early Ming Wares of Chingtechen, Peking, 1938, pl. 19, and exhibited, with metal-bound rim, in Blue and White Porcelain from the Collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark at Spink & Son, London, 1974, cat. no. 14; another discovered in Tianjin city, published in Wenwu, 1977, no. 1, p. 92; and a third, of smaller size (16 cm), sold at Hanhai Art Auction Corp., Beijing, 7th October 1995, lot 1031. The Taipei catalogue (op.cit., p. 202) states that in the early Wanli period, the poet and dramatist Tu Long (1542-1605) mentioned mallow-flower shaped Xuande period washers with fish and aquatic plants, but that a painting in the Palace Museum, Beijing, depicting a Xuande hunting scene, shows a vessel of this type serving as a stand for a pear-shaped vase.

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Blue and white ‘fish pond’ brush washer, mark and period of Xuande, excavated from the Ming imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen. After: Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 19-2.

The same design is also known from deep Xuande bowls with similar fluted mallow-shaped sides and from circular Xuande dishes, see Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu/Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. nos 140 and 180; a close copy exists in Taipei of a brush washer with the same shape and design of Jiajing mark and period, see Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book V, Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 21; and another Jiajing example from the collection of Myron S. Falk was sold at Christie's New York, 16th October 2001, lot 143. Compare also a Xuande brush washer with pomegranates and other fruits, one with dragon and phoenix and one with phoenixes only in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 1, pls 127-9, the former two probably unmarked.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong

A fine blue and yellow 'Gardenia' dish, mark and period of Hongzhi (1488-1505)

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A fine blue and yellow 'gardenia' dish, mark and period of Hongzhi

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Lot 57. A fine blue and yellow 'Gardenia' dish, mark and period of Hongzhi (1488-1505); 26.2 cm., 10 3/8 in. Est. 6,000,000 — 8,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 7,220,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

the curved sides flaring towards the rim, the centre painted in cobalt blue with a gardenia spray with two large open blooms and two buds, the inner sides with a lotus flower and pod tied with a ribbon, branches of pomegranate and crab apple, and a bunch of grapes, the outside with a scroll with seven evenly spaced roses, all reserved on a ground of yellow glaze, which leaves the base free, where the six-character reign mark is inscribed.

ProvenanceCollection of Dr and Mrs Sherman E. Lee, Cleveland.
Reach Family Collection.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.
Private Collection, Japan.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.

ExhibitedThe Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland (on loan 1980-86).
Chinese Art from the Reach Family Collection, Eskenazi Ltd, London, 1989, cat. no. 38 (illustrated).
Chūgoku no tōji/Special Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, cat. no. 270 (illustrated).

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1674.

Note: This gardenia design in blue against a yellow ground was produced from the Xuande right through to the Jiajing reign, with the peak of production probably in the Hongzhi period. For Xuande and Chenghua prototypes in the British Museum, London, see Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, nos 4: 43 and 6: 16. A Zhengde and an extremely rare Jiajing example also form part of the Meiyintang collection, as does a blue and white dish of this design of Hongzhi mark and period, and an iron-brown painted one of Zhengde mark and period; see Krahl, op.cit., vol. 2, nos 681-4. For other blue and yellow Hongzhi dishes see, for example, one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 2, pl. 231; one from the Carl Kempe collection illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 8, no. 226; one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ibid., vol. 11, col. pl. 16; and one from the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum, London, in Margaret Medley, The Chinese Potter, Oxford, 1976, fig. 158.

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Dish with Gardenia, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), late 16th century. Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under and colored enamel over transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware. Diam. 10 1/4 in. (26 cm), Rogers Fund, 1919, 19.28.10© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Dish with flowering gardenia, Ming dynasty, Hongzhi mark and period, AD 1488–1505, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration and yellow glaze. Height: 47 mm, Diameter: 264 mm. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF A773©  Trustees of the British Museum

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong

Rediscovered painting by Orazio Gentileschi leads Colnaghi's spring exhibition in New York

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Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639), The Crowning of Thorns. Oil on canvas, 52cm x 41cm (20 x 16 in.)© Colnaghi 2018

 NEW YORK, NY.- Colnaghi will show a rediscovered and previously unpublished painting by Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639) at a spring exhibition in their newly-opened townhouse space in New York’s Upper East Side. Taking place from 27 January to 3 February 2018 as part of Master Drawings New York 2018, the exhibition will also include a selection of works by notable artists including Pedro de Mena (1628-1688) and Luca Giordano (1634-1705). In addition, and following the arrival of Carlos A. Picón as Director of the new gallery in New York, the exhibition will also showcase a fine group of antiquities. 

The Crowning of Thorns by Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639) is an important rediscovery which has been in a private collection for at least several generations, hidden from the view of art historians and unpublished to date. Orazio Gentileschi was one of the most significant and innovative artists working in Italy during the beginning of the 17th century. Born in Pisa, he later moved to Rome where he met Caravaggio and was highly influenced by the artist, though over time he developed a softer, more refined version of Caravaggio’s dramatic style. He also worked in Genoa and Paris, before moving to London in 1626 where he was court painter to Charles II. This painting is oil on canvas and measures 52cm x 41cm (20 x 16 in.). It is linked to two other versions of the subject, of larger dimensions, both dated to 1610-15; it is likely the present version also dates to this period. 

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Pedro de Mena y Medrano (1628-1688), Ecce Homo and Virgin Dolorosa, Circa 1680-88. Carved, polychromed wood, 34.5x31x19cm. (13x12x71⁄2in.) (Christ) 34x31x20cm. (13x12x8in.) (Virgin). © Colnaghi 2018

These recently discovered sculptures are an exciting addition to the known works of Pedro de Mena (1628-1688), one of the most celebrated sculptors of the Spanish Golden Age. An exceptional wood carver and painter, Pedro de Mena was intensely religious and would often enhance his sculptures with glass eyes, human hair and real materials including rope, creating striking and hyper-realistic devotional figures.  

These depictions of Christ and the Virgin date from the artist’s later years, a period during the Counter Reformation and following the dictates of the Council of Trent. In these later years, the artist adopted a simplified type of modelling that aimed to concentrate attention on the suffering expressions of the figures, inspiring empathy and religious fervour on the part of the individual contemplating the work. Pedro de Mena produced sculptures of this type for the religious houses of enclosed Orders and for contemplation in private oratories; similar examples can be found in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Basilica del Gran Poder, Seville; church of San Felipe Neri, Mexico City; church of San Luis de los Franceses, Seville, the Museo Diocesano y Catedralicio, Valladolid; and the Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid.  

-Giordano, Apolo and Marsya -1509368875

Luca Giordano (1634 – 1705), Apollo and Marsyas. Oil on canvas, 125 x 180 cm. (49 ¼ x 70 ¾).  © Colnaghi 2018

A masterpiece of Luca Giordano’s youth, this canvas depicts the story of Apollo and Marsyas, as recounted by Ovid and reflects the influence of Jusepe de Ribera on the young artist. In this work Giordano is looking to Ribera’s celebrated version of the subject, signed and dated 1637, now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, with the composition dramatically foreshortened and inverted Marsyas, bound to a tree trunk, taking centre stage. From Ribera, Giordano also takes the youthful, classically idealised Apollo, placed to the left of Marysas, as well as the group of satyrs at the right, watching powerlessly in horror as the punishment of their companion unfolds. In both paintings, the delicacy and perfection of Apollo is contrasted with the horror of the flaying. The composition, full of nervous energy, is close-cropped, bringing the figures closer to the viewer and, in consequence, the viewer almost into the composition, allowing the picture to retain a strong sense of living spectacle, albeit one pervaded by a paradoxical sense of calm. 

Portrait Head of an Older Woman Bluish-white marble, probably Luna (Carrara) Roman, Julio-Claudian Period, mid 1st Century A.D. 24 cm. high 

Following the arrival of Carlos A. Picón as Director of the new gallery in New York, the exhibition will also showcase a fine group of antiquities. Among them is this strikingly attractive portrait head of an older woman. The sculpture was produced during a formative and highly sophisticated phase of Roman art, and one whose portraits are much less common than those from later Imperial times. The carving of the face is executed in the realistic yet tight and linear style of Julio-Claudian perspective, highlighting the sitter’s delicate yet exotic features and her elaborate hair-do

A rare square polychrome painted 'Dragon' bowl, mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566)

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A rare square polychrome painted 'Dragon' bowl, mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566)

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Lot 65. A rare square polychrome painted 'Dragon' bowl, mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566); width 13.4 cm., 5 1/4 in. Est. 600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Lot Sold 1,940,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

of square section, with curved, widely flaring sides and a straight foot, painted in an unusual combination of yellow, aubergine, red and black enamels with touches of green with four striding five-clawed dragons among scrolls of lingzhi around the outer sides with a ruyi border below, the inside with a similar dragon in a square panel in the centre and a lingzhi-scroll border at the rim, all enclosed between underglaze-blue double-line borders, the base with an unbordered six-character reign mark.

ProvenanceCollection of Harry J. Oppenheim (died 1946).
Collection of Nancy and Ira Koger.
Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York..

ExhibitedMostra d'Arte Cinese/Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 711 (illustrated).

LiteratureR.L. Hobson, Bernard Rackham and William King, Chinese Ceramics in Private Collections, London, 1931, fig. 134.
John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics. The Koger Collection, London, 1985, pl. 84.
Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1688.

Note: For another piece of this design and this unusual colour scheme in the Shanghai Museum see Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 4-16; and for one in the British Museum, London, from the Eumorfopoulos collection see Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 9:114.

Square porcelain bowl with underglaze blue and overglaze aubergine, green, yellow and black enamels, Ming dynasty, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566)

Square porcelain bowl with underglaze blue and overglaze aubergine, green, yellow and black enamels, Ming dynasty, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566). Porcelain, 13 x 13 x 7,2 cm. Ex-Eumorfopoulos collection. 1937,0716.87 © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum 

Harry (Henry) James Oppenheim assembled an outstanding collection of Chinese ceramics and other works of art in the early part of the 20th century. His collection was characterized by R.L. Hobson in 1931 with the words "Limited exhibition space may be a drawback to the omnivorous collector, but it has compensating advantages. It forces its victims to be selective ... The collection of Mr. H. J. Oppenheim's flat is ... like a well-tended garden drastically weeded and full of fine flowers." Oppenheim left his entire collection to the British Museum, London, but excluded the present bowl from his donation, probably because the British Museum already owned an example of the same design from the Eumorfopoulos collection.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong

A yellow and red 'Dragon' jar, mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566)

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A yellow and red 'Dragon' jar, mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566)

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Lot 66. A yellow and red 'Dragon' jar, mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566); 13.5 cm., 5 3/8 in. Est. 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 2,420,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2011

of baluster form with rounded shoulder and short straight neck, covered with a transparent and a yellow glaze and painted in black with two dragons among lingzhi scrolls between cloud motifs above and rocks among waves below, all reserved in yellow against an iron-red background, the base left white and inscribed in underglaze blue with an unbordered six-character reign mark.

ProvenanceEskenazi Ltd, London.

ExhibitedChinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, The British Museum, London, 1994.
Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 131.

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 706.

Note: Contrasting colours and longevity motifs are perhaps the two most characteristic features of Jiajing imperial porcelains. The juxtaposition of the imperial five-clawed dragon with sprays of longevity fungus, instead of the usual lotus scrolls, links the ruler in a most obvious symbolism to long life, and reflects the Jiajing Emperor's fervent pursuit of longevity and attachment to Daoist practises promising the attainment of immortality. The auspicious message is here carried through even in the colour scheme, where yellow, the imperial colour, is surrounded by red, the colour of good luck. Combinations of two different glaze colours are characteristic of the Jiajing reign, but the present one is a rare case where the two colours are superimposed and had to be fired at different times and different temperatures.

A jar of this design from the Avery Brundage collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics. A New Standard Guide, London, 1996, pl. 483; another in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Iron in the Fire, Oxford, 1988, cat. no. 64; one in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, is illustrated in Tōyō tōji meihin zuroku [Catalogue of masterpieces of Oriental ceramics], Matsuoka Bijutsukan, Tokyo, 1991, cat. no. 82, Similar jars from the collections of Stephen D. Winkworth, George Eumorfopoulos and Mrs. Alfred Clark, respectively, were sold in our London rooms 25th April 1933, lot 382; 30th May 1940, lot 286; and 24th March 1953, lot 65; one from the collection of J.M. Hu was sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 7; one from the British Rail Pension Fund in these rooms, 12th May 1976, lot 51 and again 16th May 1989, lot 28.

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Jar with dragons amid clouds, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Reign of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566), Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with overglaze multicolor decoration. H. 5 1/2 in x Diam. 5 1/4 in, H. 14 cm x Diam. 13.3 cm. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P1523© 2017 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture.

 

A Jiajing jar of this design with cover is compared with a Qianlong version, both from the Palace Museum collection in Beijing in Li Zhiyan, Virginia L. Bower and He Li, Chinese Ceramics from the Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty, New Haven and London, 2010, p. 611.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 April 2011. Hong Kong


A fine wucai 'Dragon and Phoenix' saucer, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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A fine wucai 'Dragon and Phoenix' saucer, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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Lot 69. A fine wucai'Dragon and Phoenix' saucer, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620); 9.9 cm., 3 7/8 in. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 800,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2011. 

with steep rounded sides and flared rim, painted in underglaze blue and red, yellow, green and black enamels with a five-clawed dragon and phoenix in flight circling around a 'flaming pearl' surrounded by small clouds, the inner sides with small fruit and flower sprays, the outside with books, scrolls, horns and other emblems with and without ribbons, and the base inscribed with the six-character reign mark in a double ring.

ProvenanceCollection of Harcourt Johnstone (1895-1945).
Collection of Mr and Mrs R.H.R. Palmer.
Sotheby's London, 27th November 1962, lot 48.
Collection of Neil F. Phillips QC, Montreal.
Reach Family Collection.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.

ExhibitedChinese Art from the Reach Family Collection, Eskenazi Ltd, London, 1989, cat. no. 44 (illustrated).

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 729.

Note: This bright palette and the dragon-and-phoenix design, symbolizing Emperor and Empress, are classic features of Wanli imperial porcelain. This small piece is a particularly nice example, more carefully painted than most larger dishes and slightly unusual in its colour scheme, where blue and red dominate and green and yellow are used only sparingly. 

A similar saucer from the collection of Hans Öström, Stockholm, was sold at Christie's London, 11th July 2006, lot 145. A slightly larger, broken example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, with dragons and phoenixes also around the inner sides and the flower sprays instead on the reverse, is published in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pl. 200; another pair of slightly larger dishes with the same design but painted in a different manner, from the Songde Tang collection, was included in the exhibition Fame of FlameImperial Wares of the Jiajing and Wanli Periods, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2009-10, cat. no. 112.

Harcourt Johnstone was a British politician, whose Chinese collection was largely sold at Sotheby's London, 13th June 1940. According to the catalogue, his entire collection had been exhibited on loan in the principal provincial museums in the United Kingdom.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains, Hong Kong, 07 Apr 2011 

A rare wucai box and cover with pairs of dancers, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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A rare wucai box and cover with pairs of dancers, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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Lot 70. A rare wucai box and cover with pairs of dancers, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620); diameter 16 cm., 6 3/8 in. Estimate 4,000,000 — 6,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 10,516,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2011. 

of barrel shape with curved sides, the flat cover with a raised edge, painted in a bright underglaze blue and green, red, yellow and brown enamels and black details, showing on the cover and twice around the sides of the box a scene of two men in lively dancing poses among various leafy plants under a pine tree, dressed in flowing garments and fanciful hats and holding different fans, with a scroll border around the top and prunus blossoms on waves around the edge of the cover, key-fret around the rim and a lingzhi scroll around the base of the box, the reign mark inscribed on a recessed glazed area in the centre of the unglazed base.

ProvenanceSotheby's Hong Kong, 13th November 1990, lot 149.
Collection of T.T. Tsui, Jingguantang Collection.
Christie's London, 15th November 2000, lot 32.
J.J. Lally & Co, New York.

Literature: Sotheby's Hong Kong – Twenty Years, 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 134.
Sotheby's. Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 177.
Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1704..

Note: Barrel-shaped boxes of this type may have been used in pairs as containers for chess pieces, although related jars, generally with a recessed top, were also used as cricket cages.. 

A similar box and cover is in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, illustrated in Idemitsu Bijutsukan zōhin zuroku. Chūgoku tōji/Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 748; a box and cover of this model, but with the design somewhat differently rendered, was sold at Christie's London, 9th December 1985, lot 145. The same shape is also known with a polychrome design of mythical animals; compare a box from the collection of Iver Munthe Daae, member of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service 1867-88, sold in these rooms, 1st November 1994, lot 54.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains, Hong Kong, 07 Apr 2011 

An unusual blue and white stem cup with fabulous animals, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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An unusual blue and white stem cup with fabulous animals, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

An unusual blue and white stem cup with fabulous animals, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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Lot 71. An unusual blue and white stem cup with fabulous animals, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620); diameter 10 cm., 4 in. Estimate 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 5,060,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2011. 

of rounded form with flared rim, supported on a tall flaring stem with a sealed flat base, the interior inscribed with a six-character reign mark, the exterior painted in a clear cobalt blue with two fabulous animals galloping among stylised clouds above crested waves continuing over the stem, the animals with an elephant's head with long trunk, a lion's bushy mane and tail, pointed wings, three paws and one four-clawed dragon's leg, one with its head turned, the other looking straight ahead, the base unglazed.

ProvenanceSotheby's London, 14th July 1970, lot 153.
Christie's London, 8th December 1986, lot 311.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 15th November 1988, lot 136.
Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.

LiteratureRegina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1696.

Note: This stem cup, whose delicate painting style is very unusual for the Wanli period, closely follows a Xuande prototype in shape and design, an example of which in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is included in the exhibition Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu/Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 78. Wanli versions of this design are extremely rare, but one other such stem cup from the collection of Andrew L. and Amanda Adams Love has been sold at Christie's New York, 20th September 2005, lot 262. Compare also a Chenghua dish with similar motifs in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Krahl, op.cit., vol. 4, no. 167.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains, Hong Kong, 07 Apr 2011

An extremely rare massive blue and white octafoil basin, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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An extremely rare massive blue and white octafoil basin, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)

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Lot 72. An extremely rare massive blue and white octafoil basin, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620); 38 cm., 15 in. Estimate 2,200,000 — 2,800,000 HKD. Lot sold 7,220,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2011. 

of octafoil mallow shape, the steep sides with sharp indentations and the everted rim with raised lip of corresponding outline, painted in a deep cobalt blue under a brilliant glaze with a scene of a scholar seated on a stool under a pine tree in a garden surrounded by flowers, shrubs, rocks and a balustrade, his long fingernail pointing towards a young attendant who may be bringing a book, the sun overhead partly hidden by clouds, the inner sides with similar scenes in eight panels, four of them showing the scholar seated on the ground and the boy bringing a bottle, the rim with matching figure scenes in a continuous landscape setting, and the outside with alternating lotus and lingzhi sprays and a foliate-scroll border under the rim, the footring and base unglazed and covered with a brown dressing, save for the recessed centre glazed and inscribed with the six-character reign mark.

ProvenanceSu Lin An Collection.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 31st October 1995, lot 321.

Exhibited: Chūgoku tōji Gen Min meihin ten/Exhibition of Yüan and Ming Ceramics, Japan Ceramic Society at the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1956, cat. no. 48 (illustrated).
Chūgoku Min Shin bijutsu ten mokuroku/Chinese Arts of the Ming and Ch'ing Periods, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1963, cat. no. 310 (illustrated).
Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 134 (illustrated)

LiteratureFujioka Ryoichi and Hasebe Gakuji, eds, Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, col. pl. 203.
Sotheby's. Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 257.
Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1698.

NoteThe Wanli period has been characterized by Charles O. Hucker as 'a vigourous, creative, productive, and exploratory age', even though the Emperor devoted little attention to state affairs himself (L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368-1644, New York and London, 1976, p. 325). The same could be said for the powerful style of Jingdezhen's production in the Wanli period, which is superbly reflected in this basin. With its accentuated mallow form with sharp indentions, its free, self-assured painting style, and its deep and intense cobalt blue, it presents an emphatic statement of the potters and reflects a period in China's history very different from that of the early Ming.

No other blue and white basin of this design appears to be recorded, but a closely related example with a different figure scene is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 2, pl. 189. The design is also known in a polychrome version, with the central attendant carrying a wine bottle; one such basin from the Ataka collection in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, is illustrated in Fujioka and Hasebe, op.cit., col. pl. 104; another from the collection of Allen L. Lewis and the Estate of Henry C. Schwab, was sold in our New York rooms, 2nd/3rd February 1944, lot 415. Compare also a polychrome basin of this form with a different figure scene, depicting Wang Xizhi with two attendants carrying geese, excavated in Beijing, and illustrated next to the present piece in Fujioka and Hasebe, op.cit., col. pl. 204.

Porcelain basin with Daoist immortal design in underglaze blue and overglaze enamels, Ming Dynasty, Wanli mark and period (1573-1620)

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Porcelain basin with Daoist immortal design in underglaze blue and overglaze enamels, Ming Dynasty, Wanli mark and period (1573-1620), Jingdezhen ware. The Ataka Collection, 00496 © The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka. 

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains, Hong Kong, 07 Apr 2011

A 'Longquan' celadon-glazed jar and cover, Ming dynasty, 15th century

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A 'Longquan' celadon-glazed jar and cover, Ming dynasty, 15th century

Lot 576. A 'Longquan' celadon-glazed jar and cover, Ming dynasty, 15th century; 14cm., 5 1/2 in. Estimate 350 — 450 GBP. Lot sold 2,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's 2008. 

the baluster body rising from a recessed base to a broad shoulder with moulded rib and short tapering neck, covered overall with a glossy bluish-green glaze, the broad rimmed domed cover similarly glazed. Quantity: 2.

ProvenanceBluett & Sons, London.

LiteratureBo Gyllensvard, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 155.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 05 Nov 2008

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