A rare white-glazed biscuit 'linglong' bowl, Ming dynasty, 17th century
Lot 24. A rare white-glazed biscuit 'linglong' bowl, Ming dynasty, 17th century; 3 ½ in. (8.9 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 8,000 - GBP 12,000 (USD 10,376 - USD 15,564). Unsold. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019
The skillfully worked bowl is decorated to the exterior with five medallions enclosing figures in high relief, separated by stylised wan characters in openwork, all between four flower heads with tendrils below the mouth rim and five ruyi-heads to the foot rim. The base has an apocryphal Chenghua mark in underglaze blue.
Property from the Estate of Albert and Leonie Van Daalen, Switzerland.
Provenance: Vrijman Collection, United Kingdom.
With Vanderven Oriental Art, the Netherlands, 24 April 2014.
Note: Bowls of this type were known as 'devils' work', guigong in Chinese, which may be a reference to the ‘devilish’ skills required. Due to the openwork technique, they were also called linglong which can be translated as 'delicate-openwork'. A similarly-decorated bowl with applied figures in high relief can be found in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, illustrated by Christiaan J.A. Jörg in Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The Ming and Qing Dynasties, 1997, p. 47, fig. 28.
Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 5 November 2019