Canalblog
Editer l'article Suivre ce blog Administration + Créer mon blog
Publicité
Alain.R.Truong
Alain.R.Truong
Publicité
Visiteurs
Depuis la création 50 863 684
Archives
Newsletter
Alain.R.Truong
23 avril 2018

A large and rare blue and white ‘Peony’ jar, guan, Yuan dynasty, 13th-14th century

A large and rare blue and white ‘Peony’ jar, guan, Yuan dynasty, 13th-14th century

Lot 51. A large and rare blue and white ‘Peony’ jar, guan, Yuan dynasty, 13th-14th century; 29.4cm., 11 5/8 in. Estimate 250,000 — 350,000. Lot Sold 301,250 GBPPhoto Sotheby's 2011

the baluster body rising from a slightly recessed base to pronounced shoulders surmounted by a short neck with rolled rim, boldly painted in cobalt-blue tones with a broad band of scrolling peony and lotus, each bloom borne on a continuous undulating leafy stem with attendant offshoot buds, finely articulated with petals and leaves lightly incised to allow for subtle veining, all above narrow classic scroll and lotus-lappet bands, the shoulder with a band of pendant lappets containing the bajixiang emblems, a leafy floral meander encircling the neck, the different registers of the decoration separated by double-line borders, with pronounced 'heaping and piling' accentuating the painterly brushstrokes against the faintly bluish white glaze, the base left unglazed to reveal the fine porcellanous body with remnant traces of glaze caught against the knife-cut grooves of the foot and the slightly countersunk centre.

NoteThe present jar is a example of this classic Yuan vessel type, however, the combination of the peony and lotus scroll band design on the main body together with the bajixiang emblems around the shoulder within a border of pendant lappets is unusual. A jar with this rare design band combination was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th April 2006, lot 1666. See also a jar included in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 64, originally sold in these rooms, 27th October 1992, lot 29.

Peony jars of the 14th century are painted with vigour, and this jar is characteristic of this special group of wares. Compare four related examples, all with the more common lotus scroll around the shoulder; in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu junghua daquan. Taoci juan, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 551; in the Shanghai Museum, published in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 24; one probably in a Japanese private collection illustrated in So Gen no bijutsu, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 198; and a fourth piece sold in these rooms, 7th June 1988, lot 211A.

The decoration of panels of bajixiang emblems and flaming pearls are rarely found on the shoulders of Yuan jars of this form. This design was more commonly used on larger vessels with tall and narrow cylindrical neck such as the famous jar painted with phoenixes, lotus and chrysanthemum, from the Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, included in Stacey Pierson, Blue and White for China. Porcelain Treasures in the Percival David Collection, London, 2004, pl. 2.

Another unusual aspect of this vessel is the thin floral scroll around the neck. Vessels of this type are usually decorated with a wave band, a classic design of the period discussed by Kikutaro Saito in 'The Yuan Blue-and-White and the Yuan Drama in the Middle of the 14th Century', Kobijutsu, no. 18, July 1967 (pt. I) and no. 19, October 1967 (pt. II).

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, 11 May 11, London

Publicité
Publicité
Commentaires
Publicité