Lot 64. An Yixing peach form water dropper, Chen Mingyuan stamped mark, 18th century; 12.1cm across. Sold for US$24,320 (Estimate US$ 5,000-7,000) © Bonhams 2001-2024

Realistically rendered as a peach split in half, cradled by a leafy branch which served as the spout, the pit perforated allowing water and air to pass, the zisha body skillfully colored and burnished in areas, the underside with a square artist's seal stamped "Chen Mingyuan" in seal script.

Provenance: Sydney L. Moss Ltd, London (according to label)
The Collection of Dr. Franklin Preiser, by descent.

Published: Claudia Brown & Robert D. Mowry, Ancient China - Modern Clay: Chinese influences on five ceramic artists, Phoenix, 1994, p. 5, not illustrated and listed as "lent by Shinkeido"

Exhibited: Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, 1994

Note: Chen Mingyuan, active in the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods, was born into a family well-known for zisha clay works in the Shangyuan village at Yixing, Jiangsu province. By repute his father was Chen Ziqi, a famous zisha artisan in the Ming dynasty. Chen Mingyuan's style followed the simplicity aesthetic of the Ming  zisha works, and he perfected the technique of imitating natural forms. His teapots, tea wares, and fine items made for the scholar's table were highly appraised by connoisseurs. The stamped square seal is consistent with recorded seals by the artist.

Another very similarly colored pale Yixing stoneware peach-form water dropper with a straw-blown clay-red-spotted glaze from the Beijing Palace Museum, see the museum's website, ref. no. 故00157181. For a double-peach washer signed Chen Mingyuan, see Christie's New York, 22 March 2012, lot 1253.

Bonhams. Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 16 September 2024