Lot 8001. A rare copper-red decorated bracket-lobed cup stand, Hongwu period (1368-1398). 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 500,000 - HKD 700,000 (USD 64,369 - USD 90,116). Price realised HKD 2,500,000. © Christies Images Ltd 2017

The centre is painted with a quatrefoil ruyi surrounded by a raised collar to support the cup and by a continuous chrysanthemum scroll bearing six blossoms, the petal-moulded cavetto further painted with lotus sprays below a classic scroll on the everted bracket-lobed rim. The exterior is painted with upright petal lappets. The copper red is of a deep raspberry-red tone, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: The Manno Art Museum, no. 427
Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, One Man’s Vision, Important Chinese Art from The Manno Art Museum, 28 October 2002, lot 528

Literature: Yoshiaki Yabe, Toji Taikei, Gen no Sometsuke, vol. 41, Tokyo, 1974, nos. 74 and 75
Sekai toji zenshu - 14 Ming, Tokyo, 1976, p. 161, no. 139
Selected Masterpieces of the Manno Collection, Japan, 1988, no. 105

Note: For similar examples with the ruyi medallion in the centre, see the stand in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 244, no. 225; another in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by Wang Qingzheng (ed.), Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 39; and another sold at Christies London, 28 June 1964, and illustrated by A. du Boulay, Christie’s Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, Oxford, 1984, p. 148, no. 1. There are also stands each with an open lotus flower in the centre medallion, such as the one in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kondasha Series, Tokyo, 1982, vol. 8, no. 51; for an example with a peony in the centre, see the example from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 April 2011, lot 44.

Cupstand, porcelain, Decorated in a misfired underglazed copper-red, wich has burnt to a soft greyish colour with small dark red spots. In the centre a rosette-like lotus flower, encirkled by a continious chrysanthemum scroll. Ming dynasty, Hongwu period 1368-1398, Gustav VI Adolfs samling, tidigare i Hans Öströms samling. ÖM-1974-1040 ©2017 Östasiatiska Museet

A fine and rare underglaze-red cup stand, Ming dynasty, Hongwu period. 19.7 cm., 7 3/4 in. Sold for 4,820,000 HKD at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 April 2011, lot 44. Photo Sotheby's

Cf. my post: Underglaze-Red Chrysanthemum Dish, Cup Stand & white anhua 'Phoenix' Bowl, Ming Dynasty, Hongwu period (1368-1398)

This type of petal-moulded cup stand originated in the late Yuan dynasty, and was modelled after Middle Eastern metal work. For a Yuan cup stand of this type in blue and white, see an example in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 4 (I), London, 2010, p. 31, no. 1616.