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21 novembre 2022

A rare blue and white 'dragon' ewer, Qianlong period (1736-1795), the Persian metal cover and mounts 19th century

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Lot 154. A rare blue and white 'dragon' ewer, Qianlong period (1736-1795), the Persian metal cover and mounts 19th century; 36.9cm (14 1/2in) high. Sold for £38,100 (Estimate £30,000-£50,000). © Bonhams 2001-2022

Elegantly potted of flattened pear-shape rising from a short spreading foot, moulded and painted in a vibrant cobalt blue on either side with a tear-drop-shaped panel depicting a writhing five-clawed dragon amidst clouds and flames, reserved on a dense floral meander between key-fret pattern and lappets around the neck and a classic scroll around the foot, the tapered spout with florets and cloud scrolls, and connected to the neck with a ruyi-cloud strut, the metal mount forming the arched handle, the flaring neck and the high domed cover engraved with Arabic calligraphic roundels alternating with rabbits and birds between scrolling arabesques, the finial inset with green glass.

Provenance: Christie's London, 12 July 2005, lot 169

NoteThe roundels on the upper and lower parts of the mount are invocations:

ya ghafran (O Forgiving One)
ya sultan (O Sovereignty)
ya Hanan (O Compassionate One)
ya musta'an (O Requiter)
ya 'azum (O Mightly One)

The inscribed band on the rim is the basmallah (invocation in the name of Allah) followed by the Qur'anic text of Surah 68, verse 51:
Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim wa an yakad al-din kafaru al-yuzliqunak bi-basrihim lama sami'ua al-dhikaru wa yaqulun innhu lamajnun - 'When they hear Our revelations, the unbelievers almost devour you with their eyes. 'He is surely possessed', they say. (Translation from The Koran by N.J.Dawood, Harmondsworth, revised edition, 1979, p.63.)

The present lot is extremely rare, and there are only two known blue and white ewers of this type with decoration of dragons and Qianlong mark published. One is in the collection of the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul, illustrated by J.Ayers and R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul, vol.3, London, 1986, pp.1106-1107, no.2566. See also a ewer from the Roemer-Museum in Hildesheim illustrated by U.Wiesner, Chinesisches Porzellan: Die Ohlmer'sche Sammlung im Roemer-Museum, Mainz am Rhein, 1981, no.70.

Pear-shaped ewers, such as the present example, appear to be based on an earlier round sectioned prototype produced during the Yuan and early Ming dynasties, which in turn were inspired by Central Asian and Middle Eastern metal vessels. See, for example, a blue and white ewer, Yongle, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, vol.1, Hong Kong, 2000, p.43, no.41. Similarities can also be drawn with a group of tianbai ewers, Yongle, excavated from the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen despite these specimens display a wider neck and a square spout; see Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, pp.96-97, no.7.

Although the shape of this ewer does not appear to have been made in the following reign periods, it was revived in the Jiajing reign on both monochrome white and with underglaze blue wares; see for example, a blue and white ewer with a design of children playing, Jiajing, in the Percival David collection in the British Museum, illustrated by R.Scott and R.Kerr, Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period, London, 1994, p.30, no.51.

The Western Asian metal mounts on the present ewer vessel suggest that the ewer was previously in a Western Asian collection. The chased decoration on the mounts is Qajar Persian dating to the 19th century. Compare with a blue and white ewer, Kangxi, which displays a similar mount and cover, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc.no.476.18-6). See also a 15th century blue and white ewer from the Topkapi Saray museum, Instanbul, fitted with a related but lesser rounded metal cover; see ibid., p.519, no.618.

A pair of similar ewers with handles and covers, Qianlong, was sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 1 May 2001, lot 537.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, 3 November 2022, London, New Bond Street

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