A white-glazed anhua-decorated stembowl, Ming Dynasty, Yongle Period. Photo: Sotheby's
with deep rounded sides rising to a flared rim, supported on a tall slightly spreading hollow foot, decorated in anhua on the interior with a ruyi in the center and a pair of dragons chasing a 'flaming pearl' around the sides, the exterior plain and covered overall with an even creamy-white glaze. Height 4 3/4 in., 12 cm. Estimation 20,000 — 30,000 USD
Provenance: Collection of Peter Scheinman.
Christie's New York, 23rd March 1995, lot 94.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th October 2001, lot 560.
In the 1980s excavations at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen revealed that a number of white wares, some decorated with anhua designs, including stembowls, were produced for imperial ceremonial use. For a further discussion see Liu Xinyuan, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 58-59. Compare also two bowls both with flared sides and each bearing an anhua Yongle reign mark, the first in the British Museum, with a similar anhua dragon motif published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, fig. 3:1, p. 98; and the other from the Brankston Collection, illustrated in Rose. Kerr (ed.), Chinese Art and Design, London, 1991, p. 176, fig. 80 (right).
Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM - www.sothebys.com