modeled in the form of three conjoined ripe fruits, evenly arranged and centered by a knop in the form of a curling leafy stem, the stippled skin and foliage finely articulated (2). Width 4 3/4  in., 12.1 cm. 

Provenance: Collection of Winston Frederick Churchill Guest.
Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 2nd December 1967, lot 31.

Exhibition: Blanc de Chine: Divine Images in Porcelain, China Institute Gallery, New York, 2002, cat. no. 11.

Bibliography: Liu Youzheng, Zhongguo Dehua Baici Yanjiu / Blanc de Chine, Beijing, 2007, col. pl. 49.

Notes: Compare two other Dehua 'lychee' vessels, one a Kangxi period lychee-form waterpot sold in our Hong Kong rooms 21st May 1985, lot 153; another an 18th century lychee-form dish illustrated in P.J. Donnelly, Blanc de Chine, London, 1969, pl. 44B.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 13 sept. 2016, 10:30 AM