Lot 3120. A very rare blue and white 'Dragon and Phoenix' ewer and cover, Wanli six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1573-1619), 7 7/8 in. (20.1 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,500,000 - HKD 2,500,000. Price realised HKD 2,440,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

The ewer is of compressed globular form with a long waisted neck below a galleried rim, surmounted by a cover with a flat surface and bud finial. It is painted in cobalt of vivid blue tones on each side of the body with a five-clawed dragon and pheonix contesting a flaming pearl among scrolling lotus, and around the neck with the 'Three Friends of Winter'. The elegantly curved spout and arched strap-handle are further decorated with detached florettes..

Provenance: Peter Boode Antiques, London, 1945, purchased for 85 pounds
Raymond F.A. Riesco Collection, no. 204a. 

Literature: Antique Collector, December 1946
London News, 16 November 1946
E.E. Bluett, The Riesco Collection of Old Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, circa 1951, p. 31, fig. 53
London Borough of Croydon, Riesco Collection of Chinese Ceramics Handlist, Croydon, 1987, p. 12, no. 104 

Exhibited: Oriental Ceramic Society, London, Ming Blue-and-White Porcelain, 24 October - 21 December, 1946, Catalogue, no. 65
Oriental Ceramic Society, Loan Exhibition of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain 14th to 19th Centuries, London, 16 December 1953 - 23 January 1954, Catalogue, no. 176
The Arts Council of Great Britain and Oriental Ceramic Society, The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, London, 15 November - 14 December 1957, Catalogue, no. 144 

Note: The present ewer is very rare as it is preserved with its original cover, and is exceptional for its particular brilliant tone of the cobalt blue. There is only one other nearly identical example known, which is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei and illustrated in Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book VI, Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 4.

The combination of the dragon and phoenix motif, symbolic of imperial supremacy, with the 'Three Friends of Winter', symbolic of lofty literati ideals, on this ewer, is highly unusual. This intriguing juxtaposition is rarely seen on earlier ceramics and appears only on a few imperial wares from the Wanli period, such as a blue and white covered box and a blue and white jar in the Huaihaitang Collection and illustrated in Enlightening Elegance. Imperial Porcelain of the Mid to Late Ming, Hong Kong, 2012, pls. 108 and 117.  

Christie's. The R.F.A Riesco Collection of Important Chinese Ceramics, 27 November 2013, Hong Kong