Lot 916. A small Dehua pomegranate-form teapot and cover, 17th century; 14 cm wide. Price realised USD 10,710 (Estimate: USD 3,000 – USD 4,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.

The teapot is formed as a pomegranate resting on a star-shaped foot simulating the calyx, with the straight spout opposite a branch-form handle. The body is molded with leafy sprigs and the cover is further molded with a leafy spray and surmounted by a twig-loop finial. Both are covered on the exterior with a transparent glaze and are fitted with 18th-century continental silver mounts.

Provenance: Collection of Alexandre J. Argyropoulos (1894-1978), Greek Ambassador to China, late 1940s-early 1950s, and thence by descent within the family.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York.

Note: The shape of this elegantly potted vase follows that of the archaic bronze gu from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. This adaption, however, is molded without any of the complex motifs normally found on archaic bronzes, which accentuates the graceful contours of the vase and accentuates the rich glaze. Vases of this form were made in various glaze colors during the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns, but those applied with teadust glaze are rare. A similar Qianlong teadust-glazed gu in the National Palace Museum, is illustrated in Monochrome Porcelains of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Taipei, 1981, colour pl. 30. Another Qianlong teadust-glazed gu molded with flanges on the body is in the Baur Collection and illustrated in The Baur Collection- Chinese Ceramics, vol. 3, Geneva, 1972, pl. A395.

Christie's. J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 23 march 2023