Lot 9332. A pair of blue and white ‘Hundred antiques’ ginger jars and covers, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); overall h. 17.4 cm. Lot Sold 144,000 HKD (Estimate 50,000 - 80,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Collection of Edward T. Chow (1910-80).
The Meiyintang Collection.
Collection of Aaron Rosenblatt.

Literature: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, pl. 744.

Lot 9333. A blue and white ‘dragon’ charger, Mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722); d. 32.7 cm. Lot Sold 1228,000 HKD (Estimate 80,000 - 120,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Zhen Cao Tang collection, Hong Kong, formed since the 1960s.

Lot 9366. A blue and white ‘dragon’ vase, Mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722) (1662-1722); h. 25.8 cm. Lot Sold 180,000 HKD (Estimate 40,000 - 60,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2024

Lot 9334. The Leshantang Collection. A fine blue and white 'Queen Mother of the West' bowl, Qing dynasty, Kangxi - Yongzheng period (1662-1735); d. 20 cm. Lot Sold 1,200,000 HKD (Estimate 120,000 - 150,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2024

finely potted with gently rounded sides supported on a short foot, the exterior delicately painted in soft tones of underglaze-blue with a continuous scene depicting the Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wang Mu) riding on a crane towards a pavilion opening onto a balustraded garden with paulownia and pine trees, with high mountain peaks and rolling clouds rising in the distance, the foot with a classic scroll, the interior left undecorated and glazed white, the base inscribed with an apocryphal six-character Xuande mark.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20th May 1981, lot 733.
Offered at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 11th April 2008, lot 2519.

Literature: The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 27.

Note: Ming imperial porcelains of the Xuande period represent a peak of quality, beauty and inventiveness in the history of Chinese ceramics, and later emperors referred back to wares of this period as seen in this fine piece. The Daoist image of the Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wang Mu) riding a crane above a pavilion copies exactly the original, including the six character reign mark of Xuande on the base.

An eighteenth century bowl of this form and decoration, from the Brankston and Riesco collections was sold in our London rooms, 23rd June 1970, lot 112. Compare also a related Qing bowl with a Xuande reign mark, but decorated with a different figural subject, included in the exhibition Special Exhibition of Hsuan Te Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1980, cat. no. 34, together with a Xuande period prototype, cat. no. 33.

For the fifteenth century origin of this decorative motif see a Xuande bowl from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 148; and one from the E. T. Chow collection, sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 6.