Poly Auction. A Romance Among Blooming Roses: The Meiyintang Collection of Three Dynasties Imperial Ceramics, Hong Kong, 2 December 2021.
A Gilt-Decorated Iron-Red Glazed ‘Lotus’ Stem Bowl, Jiajing Period, 1522-1566
Lot 3584. A Gilt-Decorated Iron-Red Glazed ‘Lotus’ Stem Bowl, Jiajing Period (1522-1566). H 33.5cm. Sold for HKD 360,000/USD 46,154 (Estimate HKD 150,000 - 250,000/USD 19,231 - 32,051). © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited
The bowl is potted with rounded sides flaring to the mouth rims. The exterior is enamelled in iron-red and further embellished with applied gold foil to depict four large peony blooms evenly divided by leafy branches, above a band of lappets around the base encircling the tall splayed cylindrical foot. The interiors of bowl and cylindrical stem foot covered with a transparent glaze.
Provenance: 1. Collection of Yasuaki Manno (1906-1998)
2. Collection of The Manno Art Museum, Osaka, no. 481
3. Christie's Hong Kong, 28 October 2002, lot 547
4. The Meiyintang Collection.
Literature: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 4(1), London, 1994-2010, p.159, no.1684.
Note: Polychrome wares embellished with gilt to resemble the appearance of rich brocade are known by a Japanese term, kinrande. Their combination of brilliant colours was derived from highly attuned visual enjoyment of painting, lacquer and silk. A similar iron-red stem-cup, with exception of the gilt decoration, in the Koger Collection, is illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics: The Koger Collection, 1985, p. 110, no. 85; and a bowl comparable to the present stem-bowl, ibid., p. 111, no. 86, where the author points out that these prized wares were used for tea ceremonial use in Japan.