A blue and white 'Mythical beast' sprinkler, Ming dynasty, 16th century. Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.
well potted with a spherical body supported on a tall flaring foot, the top shaped like a lid with a small pointed finial, connected to a cup-shaped mouth by six curving tubes springing from the shoulder, the body decorated with three slender archaistic dragons, the loops decorated with alternating lattice and florets, the coup with chevron and pierced on top with six apertures, the foot with scrollwork, the countersunk base marked with a crouching winged animal reserved in white on a blue ground - 21.9 cm., 8 1/4 in.
Note: Compare a Wanli period sprinkler sold in our New York rooms, 7th December 1983, lot 299, subsequently in the Zeiser collection and sold in Christie's New York, 22nd/23rd March 2012, lot 1987; and another related 16th century example, sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2014, lot 212. For further examples of vessel of this unusual shape in the Topkapi Sarai Museum, Istanbul, see Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul, vol. III, London, 1986, pl. 1021-10.
Sotheby's. Chinese Art. Hong Kong, 01 Jun 2015, 03:15 PM