Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 11 May 2010
Ming blue & white porcelains at Christie's, London, 11 May 2010
Lot 202. A blue and white 'Windswept' jar, guan, Ming dynasty, 15th century; 15½ in. (39.4 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000. Price realised GBP 103,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
Of baluster form, painted in underglaze blue in the 'windswept' style, with an official seated on the ground, with his horse resting nearby and accompanied by two young attendants, one carrying a qin, the other carrying his sword, another scene depicting an official in a pavilion in a riverscape, with an attendant bearing a vase, all below billowing clouds, with quatrefoil panels and lotus blossom sprays against a diaper ground on the shoulder, the neck with a further classic border, the base encircled by a series of upright plantain leaves.
Note: The present jar belongs to a group of large blue and white jars and meiping of the 14th-16th centuries, depicting figures in landscapes and garden settings, that are taken from traditional literature and popular drama. The panoramic landscape scene is comparable to handscroll paintings of the early Ming period, although on the ceramic painting it required the joining of the scene at one side of the body by a series of stylized cloud scolls to bring about an element of continuity.
Compare this jar to others painted in the same 'wind-swept' style illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, nos. 231-2, middle and bottom rows, which also show figures on horseback accompanied by attendants in landscape settings.
Lot 203. A blue and white 'lotus petal' dish, Wanli six-character mark within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619); 7¾ in. (19.5 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 15,000 - GBP 20,000. Price realised GBP 23,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
Moulded as two rows of overlapping petals rising from a central medallion of a Tibetan/Sanksrit character bordered by bands of ruyi heads, the inner row of petals with trefoil motifs decorating the rounded tips, the outer lotus petals forming a barbed rim, the exterior painted with Tibetan/Sanskrit characters alternating with flower sprigs above a row of projecting petal tips rising from a further narrow band of overlapping petal tips painted in a linear manner above the small ring foot.
Note: Other examples of lotus-form bowls with Wanli marks are illustrated by J. Ayers, The Baur Collection, vol. II, Geneva, 1969, no. A185; by Wang Qing-zheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Shanghai, 1987, pl. 101; by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 313. Other recorded examples include one in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 11, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1982, no. 91. Another bowl of Wanli date, but unmarked, in the Institut Neerlandais, Paris, is illustrated by D. Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, New York, 1978, pls. 215 and 215a, where the author notes that these bowls were probably intended to hold offerings in a Lamaist Buddhist temples.
Compare, also, the dish formerly in the Jingguantang Collection, sold in our New York rooms, 20 March 1997, lot 81.
Lot 206. A blue and white vase, Chongzhen Period (1628-1644); 8 in. (20.5 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 6,000 - GBP 8,000. Price realised GBP 3,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
Painted in bright shades of cobalt blue around the waisted body with birds in flight above flowering branches and rockwork, the central raised band with lotus blooms borne on leafy scrolls, the foot with pendent blades, wood stand.
Lot 226. A small blue and white beaker vase, gu, Chongzhen Period (1628-1644); 8 in. (20.5 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 4,000 - GBP 6,000. Price realised GBP 7,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
The gently flaring sides finely painted in shades of cobalt with two birds, one perched on bamboo, beside tree peony growing beside rockwork, above a slightly raised band with meandering lingzhi sprays, a band of incised scrolling foliage below the rim and another of chevron pattern below the raised section.
Lot 231. A rare blue and white 'Lotus bouquet' dish, Ming dynasty, 15th century; 8¾ in. (22.5 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 15,000 - GBP 20,000. Price realised GBP 39,650. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
Delicately potted with gently rounded walls ending on a flaring rim, the interior finely painted with a bouquet of lotus blooms tied with a long flowing ribbon, the reverse with the 'Eight Buddhist Emblems', bajixiang, supported on lotus blooms borne on meandering scrolls.
Provenance: Sir George Labouchère, of Dudmaston Hall, Shropshire.
Lot 278. A Fahua barrel-shaped garden seat, Ming dynasty, 15th-16th century; 16¼ in. (41.3 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 8,000 - GBP 12,000. Price realised GBP 21,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
Decorated in low relief and slip decoration, the turquoise-ground central section decorated with cranes wading in a lotus pond, divided at each side by an applied lion-mask handle, between two royal blue bands: the upper with six upright lotus sprays and the lower with waves breaking onto rocks, each divided by a row of bosses, the slightly domed top with four lotus leaves around a central peony spray.
Provenance: Willem Frederik van Heukelom (1858-1937), Amsterdam.
Lot 280. A large Zhangzhou (Swatow) slip-decorated bowl, Ming dynasty, late 16th-early 17th century; 15¾ in. (39.5 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 5,000 - GBP 7,000. Price realised GBP 8,125. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
With deep sides, the center of the interior decorated with a flowering stalk bearing three blossoms amidst feathery leaves, below alternating foliate sprays in the cavetto and a decorative border on the everted rim, all in white slip applied in dots, thin lines and wash on a soft blue ground which continues onto the exterior.
Note: A very similar dish is in the British Museum (see J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, p. 347, no. 11:187); and a slightly smaller dish (38.1 cm.) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1977, vol. 11, fig. 100.