Lot 4. From the Alan and Simone Hartman collection. A massive Ming blue and white basin, Jiajing six-character mark and of the period (1522–1566); 77.4cm diam; with wood stand 86.5cm high. Sold for US$108,450. © Bonhams 2001-2024

The circular basin with sharply rising sides and painted in rich dark cobalt blue with two lithe five-clawed horned dragons striding around the body on a ground with numerous fire-scrolls and a wide band of leafy scrolling lotus, set between double lines at the foot and below the rounded rim which bears the six-character reign mark in a line above one dragon, the rim with further concentric rings.

Note: Compare the similar Jiajing blue and white dragon basin in the collection of the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli in the Ming Dynasty: A Comparison of Porcelain from the Imperial Kiln Site at Jingdezhen and Imperial Collection of the Palace Museum, Vol. II, Beijing, 2018, p. 747, fig. 9.

For another from the Collection of the Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, with similarly dispersed dragons, one with neck coiled to look over its back to the dragon behind, but set on cloud scrolls rather than the stylized scrolling lotus of the Hartman example, see Lai Suk Yee (Exec. editor), Enlightening Elegance, Imperial Porcelain of the Mid to Late Ming, The Huaihaitang Collection, Hong Kong, 2013, pp. 132-133, no. 17.

A Jiajing-marked 'dragon' basin of smaller size in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated by Wang Qingzheng and Fan Jirong (eds.), Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. J. M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, p. 54, no. 21. Compare also the blue and white dragon basin of smaller size in the collection of the Beijing Palace Museum, op. cit., p. 469, no. 275, described as Wanli period.

In the Mary Anne Rogers 1988 catalog of the loan exhibit from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, titled The Pursuit of the Dragon: Traditions and Transitions in Ming Ceramics, Seattle, 1988, p. 106, the author notes that the typical Jiajing dragon has 'lumpy brows and straining eyes, haloed by sharply fringed lashes, thick tresses sweeping from beneath the necks into high coiffures, and strong curving bodies propelled by widely stretched limbs'; all so readily on display in this wonderful basin, and set against an unusual scrolling lotus ground rather than the more ubiquitous cloud or fire scrolls. According to R. L. Hobson, The Wares of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1923, p. 19 and p. 110, where the author notes that the large size of these dragon-decorated basins made them particularly difficult to manufacture, and that this type of ware required up to nine days in the firing and that the low rate of success often drove the imperial potters to despair.

Compare to another large basin of similar size decorated with dragons amidst lotus scroll illustrated by R. L. Hobson, The Wares of the Ming Dynasty, New York, 1923, pl. 26, fig. 2.

Lot 4. From the Alan and Simone Hartman collection. A massive Ming blue and white jar, Jiajing six-character mark and of the period (1522–1566); 52cm high. Sold for US$40,960. © Bonhams 2001-2024

The globular jar with steep sides and gently rounded shoulder below a shallow waisted neck and short flattened cylindrical neck, painted in various attractive tones of cobalt blue with a wide register of leafy scrolling lotus to the lower two-thirds of the body and set between a dark band of layered petals at the foot and pendant jewelry to the rounded shoulder including conch shells, tassels, umbrellas, wheels, lozenges and rhino horns, the interior white glazed, the foot unglazed save for a central circle which bears the vertical six-character reign mark in underglaze blue.

Note: Compare the very similar Jiajing-marked blue and white jar in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by Wang Qingzheng and Fan Jirong (eds.), Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. J. M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, p. 55, no. 22.

Compare the massive blue and white jar of spherical form, with the same 'pendant jewels and scrolling lotus' design and with an unglazed base and a Jiajing six-character mark at the center, in the collection of the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli in the Ming Dynasty: A Comparison of Porcelain from the Imperial Kiln Site at Jingdezhen and Imperial Collection of the Palace Museum, Vol. I, Beijing, 2018, pp. 50-51, no. 10.

Bonhams. THE ALAN AND SIMONE HARTMAN COLLECTION THE INAUGURAL SALE, New York, 14 December 2023