A Rare Pair of 'Fahua'-Type Enameled Ceramic Figural Ewers

the complementary pair depicting a kneeling foreigner with curling dark hair and beard, wearing a long dark-blue robe with sleeves extending beyond the hands, with turquoise girdle and skirt, a pouch slung over one shoulder, one raised arm forming the spout, the other the handle of the ewer, wearing a dark-blue peaked hat with thick rolled turquoise brim, which serves as the cover (4) - height 9 in., 22.8 cm - Estimate: 15,000—20,000 USD

Provenance: - Christie's London, 15th November 2000, lot 262.
- Private Collection, acquired from the above.
- Thereafter with the present owner.

Note: Fahua-type ewers are rare and the present pair is particularly unusual for its figural form. No other vessels of this type appear to have been published, although kinrande figural ewers made for the Japanese market are known, such as one in the Percival David Foundation, included in Margaret Medley, The Chinese Potter, Oxford, 1976, pl. 169. A similarly-depicted tileworks figure of a bearded foreigner, described as a 'sorcerer', attributed to the Ming dynasty, with an aubergine coat trimmed in turquoise, with long sleeves and wearing a peaked cap with rolled brim, was sold in these rooms, 27th November 1973, lot 285. For an example of a fahua-type figure, which may have been used as an incense burner, see one of the Immortal Li Tieguai illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 13:40.

Rendered with animated features, the present works are reminiscent of Ming cloisonne figures, such as a figure-form support sold in these rooms, 18th September 1996, lot 125; and a candlestick figure sold at Christie's London, 9th May 1994, lot 225.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art including Chinese and Japanese Art from The Collection of Frieda and Milton Rosenthal. 16 Sep 08. www.sotheby's.com