Lot 3635. A very rare blue and white anhua 'dragon' stem cup , Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Estimate 4,000,000 — 6,000,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

 well potted with deep rounded sides resting on a tall hollow splayed foot moulded with bands, the exterior of the cup decorated in cobalt blue with a pair of dragons chasing 'flaming pearls', the interior centred with a floret and detailed a 'classic' scroll border along the inner rim, the cavetto decorated in the anhua ('hidden decoration') technique with dragons in pursuit of 'flaming pearls', all below a thin blue band along the rim; d. 13.3 cm, 5 1/4  in.

The dating of this stemcup is consistent with the results of a thermoluminescence (TL) test, Hong Kong, prior to November 1996, sample no. 01163.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5th November 1996, lot 739.

Bibliography: Ye Peilan, Yuan dai ciqi [Yuan dynasty porcelain], Beijing, 1998, pl. 140.

Notes: Featuring superb painting style and vibrant blue colour, the present stembowl is unusual in that it is painted in blue with a floret at the centre of interior, instead of the more common motifs of chrysanthemum spray or 'flaming pearl'. Only a few similar examples appear to be recorded in the world. One was excavated in 1998 from a hoard in Fanchang county, Anhui province, exhibited at the Anhui Province Museum, Hefei, 2006, and illustrated in the catalogue Yuan ci zhi zhen/Porcelain Treasures in Yuan Dynasty, Beijing, 2009, p. 51 (left). Another one was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st June 2011, lot 3807.

Closely related examples of stembowls, with a dragon painted in blue on the outside and usually with two dragons moulded on the inside like on the present piece, but different motif painted to the interior, are also very rare. For stembowls with a chrysanthemum spray on the inside, see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 12; one in the British Museum, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 1:24; one unearthed in Nanjing in 1970 from the tomb of the famous general Wang Xingzu, dated to the 4th year of the Hongwu period (1371), illustrated in Wang Qingzheng, Qinghua youlihong/Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 31, and also in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China, Beijing, 2008, vol. 7, pl. 149; one from the Eumorfopoulos Collection included in the exhibition catalogue Chinese Blue and White Porcelain: 14th to 19th Centuries, The Oriental Ceramic Society, Arts Council Gallery, London, 1953-4, cat. no. 13, and sold in our London rooms, 2nd July 1968, lot 117. For stembowls with a 'flaming pearl' painted to the centre, see one ibid., cat. no. 11, also included in The Ceramic Art of China, Jubilee exhibition of the Oriental Ceramic Society at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1971, cat. no. 136; and one sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st October 1994, lot 542.