Lot 113. A large and rare blue and white garlic-mouth bottle vase, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619). Estimate 6,000,000 — 8,000,000 HKD. Unsold. Photo: Sotheby's

sturdily and robustly potted after archaic bronze protoypes with a pear-shaped body supported on a short foot, tapering to a tall neck with a garlic-head mouth and upright mouthrim, the body decorated with the Ming dynasty design of four fish, the mackerel, whitefish, carp and freshwater perch, swimming amongst clumps of lotus and undulating water weeds, the pond further detailed with other water plants as well as several crab and shrimp, the flowing waters rendered with freely painted billowing streaks, below a band of florets and leaves and above stylised scrollwork skirting the footrim, the neck painted with flowering buds and blossoms, including narcissus and peony blooms, the bulbous garlic-head mouth encircled with a band of prunus blossoms wreathed by leaves and bordered with pendent and upright lotus petals, all below the mouthrim painted with a 'classic' scroll band interrupted with a cartouche enclosing a six-character reign mark - 56 cm, 22 in.

Notes: Garlic-mouth vases are outstanding among the larger Wanli wares and the craftsman of this vase has created an exceptionally free and animated aquatic scene that is complemented by flowering blossoms on the neck. The auspicious and popular Ming dynasty design of four fish, the mackerel (qing), whitefish (bai), carp (li) and freshwater perch (gui), which represents the wish, ‘May you be pure and incorruptible’ (qingbai lianjie). The additional crab and shrimp respectively symbolise success in passing the civil service examinations and the wish for all things to go smoothly. 

Such vases belong to a small group of wares of the same shape that were decorated in underglaze blue or wucai enamels. A closely related blue and white vase, from the Charles B. Hoyt collection, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acc. no. 49.24; and another of smaller size, but with blossoming prunus branches around the neck, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Beijing, 2000, pl. 165. Wucai examples of this type, but of smaller size, include one, with similar borders around the neck and foot, in the Schlossmuseum, Berlin, illustrated in Robert Schmidt, Chinesische Keramik von der Han-Zeit bis zum XIX. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt am Main, 1924, pl. 69; another in Min Shin no bijutsu [Ming and Qing art], Tokyo, 1982, pl. 118; and a third smaller example sold at Christie’s London, 6th November 2012, lot 299. A wucai vase of this type, with an apocryphal Chenghua reign mark, was sold in our London rooms, 13th December 1988, lot 186, and again in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 3101.

The shape of this vase, with its bulbous head, appears to be based on archaic bronze prototypes, such as a pair attributed to the Western Han period (206 BC – AD 9), sold twice in our New York rooms, 12th/13th March 1975, lot 157, and again, 22nd March 2011, lot 191, from the collection of J.T. Tai & Co. Chenghua blue and white porcelain would also have served as inspiration; for example see a pear-shaped vase rising to a lotus bud-shaped mouth with raised overlapping layers of petals, the body painted with lotus blooms on meandering leafy stems, sold in these rooms, 9th October 2007, lot 1557.

Wucai vases of this form are known decorated with a variety of motifs; see one decorated with a dragon and phoenix amid floral blooms and leafy scrolls, in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, published in Toyo toji meihin zuroku, Tokyo, 1991, pl. 94, another from the collection of A. A. Ballard sold at Christie's London, 9th June 1975, lot 79; and a third example, included in the exhibition One Thousand Years of Jingdezhen, Hagi Uragami Museum, 2007, cover, and sold in these rooms, 8th October 2008, lot 2655. Similar vases can also be found painted with the design of two dragons; see one illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection. Geneva, vol. 2, Geneva, 1969, pl. A203; and one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in Minji meihin zuroku, vol. III, Tokyo, 1978, pl. 99. See also a smaller vase, formerly in the Lindley-Scott Collection and later sold in our London rooms, 4th July 1945, lot 80, included in Soame Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1988, pl. 187; another in the Chang Foundation published in James Spencer, Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1990, pl. 110; and a third sold in our Los Angeles rooms, 2nd November 1981, lot 304.

Another commonly found motif on Wanli vases of this form is that of birds and waterfowl; see a pair of vases from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, included in the exhibition Imperial Overglaze-Enamelled Wares in the Late Ming Dynasty, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1995, cat. no. 22; two larger vases in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one illustrated in Minji meihin zuroku, vol. III, Tokyo, 1978, pl. 100, and the other published in Liu Liang-yu, Ming Official Wares,Taipei, 1991, p. 255 (top right); and another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 13, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 109, possibly of the same size as the present vase but with the rim damaged. A related vase was included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, cat. no. 1912, and later sold in our London rooms, 24th March 1953, lot 62; another was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 5th/6th November 1997, lot 1050; another was sold in these rooms, 8th April 2007, lot 525; and a fourth vase, sold in these rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 456, is illustrated in Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 26.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Part III. Hong Kong, 05 oct. 2016, 11:30 AM