A Blue And White Garden Seat. Late Ming Dynasty, 16th-17th Century. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Of barrel form, the sides are applied with a pair of lion-mask handles, and are decorated with a continuous frieze of a pair of phoenixes surrounded by birds in flight in a landscape of flowering plants and a rushing river. There are rows of bosses and decorative borders above and below, and the domed, pierced top is decorated with a pair of buddhistic lions and ribbon-tied brocade balls. 15¾ in. (40 cm.) high. Estimate $25,000 - $35,000

晚明 青花雙鳳朝陽坐墩

Provenance: Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, acquired in 1991. 

Notes: A similar pair of late Ming Dynasty blue and white garden seats decorated with pairs of peacocks between raised bosses and similar borders, was sold in these rooms, 20 September 2002, lot 318. Another similar example, with peococks, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection, A Treasury of Ming & Qing Palace Furniture, Vol. 1, Beijing, 2007, p. 146, fig. 138, where it is noted that most Ming-dynasty porcelain garden seats have convex tops, whereas Qing-dynasty examples have flat seat surfaces. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part II, 13 September 2012. New York, Rockefeller Plaza