Lot 3814. A rare early Ming moulded Longquan celadon barbed-rim cup stand, Hongwu period (1368-1398); 7 1/2 in. (19 cm.) wide. Estimate HKD 120,000 - HKD 180,000. Price Realized HKD 125,000. © Christie's Images Ltd. 2011

Decorated to the centre with a flower spray encircled by a raised border to hold a cup and a composite floral scroll, all below the shallow, petal-moulded sides and a band of classic scroll on the correspondingly barbed rim, covered overall in a translucent thick green glaze thinning on the raised areas, with an unglazed footring on the concave base burnt brown in the firing, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: A Japanese private collection.

Note: Compare the similar cup stand illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 486, no. 16:62. Another similar example was sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2007, lot 291.

The shape and decoration on this cup stand is based on blue and white and underglaze red examples from Jingdezhen which were also made during the Hongwu period. For a blue and white example see the cup stand excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan, Jingdezhen, in 1994, illustrated in Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, pp. 100-1, no. 17, where a cup is also shown. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 1 June 2011, Convention Hall