Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 16 May 2018, 10:30 AM
A rare blue and white meiping, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424)
Lot 112. A rare blue and white meiping, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424); 25 cm, 9 7/8 in. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 GBP. Lot Sold 50,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's 2018.
of finely potted baluster form rising to a short waisted neck with an everted lip, the body well painted in classic contrasting tones of dark cobalt-blue with a scrolling meander of leafy stems, millet, lotus blooms and buds, between double line borders, the foot encircled with a band of seven lotus sprays, the shoulder with a scrolling leafy meander, all within double line borders.
From an Italian collection.
Note: Blue and white porcelains of the Yongle period (r. 1403-24) rank among the finest in the history of Chinese ceramics and their designs provided inspiration throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. The present meiping, with its harmonious combination of foliate scrolls with lotus blooms gracefully draped over an elegant form, exemplifies the style and taste of early Ming imperial porcelain.
Closely related meiping can be found in important museum collections worldwide; see one from the Qing Court Collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Hong Kong, 2008, pl. 32; one with a cover in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Shi yu xin: Mingdai Yongle huangdi de ciqi/ Pleasingly Pure and Lustrous. Porcelains from the Yongle Reign (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty, 2017, cat. no. 52; another in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, exhibited in Seika jiki ten [Exhibition of blue and white porcelain from the Shanghai Museum], Matsuya Ginza, Tokyo, 1988, cat. no. 10; and a fourth vase in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 92. Further vases include one sold in these rooms, 1st April 1974, lot 192 and twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th November 1977, lot 23 and 18th November 1986, lot 42, from the T. Y. Chao collection; and another also sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th April 2006, lot 1658.
A rare Blue and White 'Flower' Meiping, Ming Dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424); 24.8cm., 9 3/4 in. Sold for 960,000 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 10th April 2006, lot 1658. Courtesy Sotheby's 2006.
Cf. my post: A rare Blue and White 'Flower' Meiping, Ming Dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424)