Un repose-pinceaux en émaux polychromes - Dynastie Ming, marque et époque Wanli (1573-1620)

A polychrome three-peak brushrest, Ming dynasty, mark and period of Wanli.

en forme de montagne à trois sommets, à décor wucai en bleu sous couverte et émaux rouge, noir, vert et jaune de deuxième feu, d'une assemblée de trois dragons en posture furieuse au-dessus d'une base à décor de vagues houleuses et frise leiwen, la base blanche avec marque horizontale en kaishu Wanli à six caractères dans un double rectangle en bleu sous couverte. width 15cm, 5 7/8 in. Estimate: 10,000—15,000 EUR

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 846.

Chinese Ceramic Treasures, a Selection from the Ulricehamn East Asian Museum, Including The Carl Kempe Collection. The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, p. 323, no. 1026.

CATALOGUE NOTE: It is rare to find Wanli brushrests decorated in this striking colour combination of underglaze-blue and wucai enamels on a red-ground, and the present piece appears to be unique. For Wanli polychrome brushrests in the form of a mountain, see a five-peak example sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 25^th November 1980, lot 33, and again, 29^th October 2001, lot 502, from the collection of Edward T. Chow and illustrated in Michel Beurdeley, The Chinese Collector Through the Centuries, London, 1966, p. 243. Another related piece in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in black-and-white in Yasuhiko Mayuyama, Chugoku bunbutsu kenbun, Tokyo, 1973, pl. 32, could represent either a polychrome or a blue-and-white example.

A three-peak Wanli brushrest, from the Tsui Art Museum, Hong Kong, included in the exhibition Joined Colours, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C., 1993, cat. no. 35, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3^rd November 1996, lot 574; one, from the Percival David Foundation, London, is illustrated in Margaret Medley, Ming Polychrome Wares, London, 1978, pl. 105; and a third example was sold in our London rooms, 11^th June 1996, lot 37.

Sotheby's Paris. From Neolithic to Qing, Chinese Ceramics from Two Private Collections. 12 Juin 08