Lot 5064. A moulded and reticulated fahua ‘Eight Immortals' jar, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 36.5 cm. Lot sold 304,800 HKD (Estimate 300,000-600,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2025

of baluster form, depicting the Eight Immortals carrying various attributes amidst ruyi clouds and craggy rockwork, between a band of chrysanthemum blooms on the shoulder and a border of petal lappets encircling the foot, all below a collar of ruyi  clouds on the neck, Japanese wood box

Exhibited: Shika Meisai: Ise Korekushon no Meito / Imperial Colors: Peerless Chinese Porcelains from the Ise Collection, Gotoh Museum, Tokyo, 2015, cat. no. 10.

Note: It is rare to find a fahua jar with such a successful combination of reticulation and moulded decoration. The vivid scene of the Eight Immortals is skilfully rendered against a brilliant turquoise and cobalt-blue background. A fahua meiping with similar texture of decoration, but depicting an immortal and acolyte in the British Museum collection is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British MuseumL, ondon, 2001, pl. 13:9. See also a closely related jar in the collection of George Eumorfopoulos illustrated in R.L. Hobson and A.L. Hetherington, The Art of the Chinese Potter: An Illustrated Survey, London, revised ed., New York, 1982, pl. 111.

Lot 5065. A fahua ‘peony' bowl, Ming dynasty, 16th century; 18.1 cm. Lot sold 508,000 HKD (Estimate 200,000-400,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2025

decorated around the rounded exterior with finely applied trails of slip forming three large white flowering peony blooms issuing from aubergine-glazed stems and leaves, all against an opaque turquoise glaze, Japanese double wood box.

Provenance: Collection of George de Menasce (1891-1967).

Bluett & Sons Ltd, London.

Mayuyama & Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

Literature: Tosetsu / A Monthly Journal Published by The Japan Ceramic Society, vol. 462, September 1991 (Mayuyama & Co., Ltd ad).

Chugoku Toji. Ise Korekushon / Chinese Ceramics. The Ise Collection, Tokyo, 2012, p. 79.

Ise Korekushon Sekai wo Miryoshita Chugokutoji / The Enchanting Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 2017, p. 227.

Exhibited: The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1957, cat. no. 169.

Chugoku Toji Meihin Ten Ise Korekushon no Shiho / Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramic Art Exhibition, Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Ishikawa, 2012, cat. no. 59.

Shika Meisai: Ise Korekushon no Meito / Imperial Colors: Peerless Chinese Porcelains from the Ise Collection, Gotoh Museum, Tokyo, 2015, cat. no. 9.

Note: Fahua wares from the time of their production in the latter half of the Ming dynasty have been admired and acquired by Japanese connoisseurs and collectors. Several types of Fahua vessel are known to have been used in Japanese tea ceremonies and it is been suggested that these bowls were used at such occasions as water vessels or possibly incense burners.

Compare a closely related example illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu [Ceramic art of the world], Tokyo, 1976, vol. 14, p. 132, pl. 133. For similar bowls with Fahua-type decoration see Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics In The British Museum, London, 2001, p. 424, nos. 13:29 and 13:30. Other bowls of this type are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, p. 144, no. 89.

Lot 5066. A fahua ‘lotus and egret' jar, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 34 cm. Lot sold 381,000 HKD (Estimate 40,000-80,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2025

the robustly potted broad-shouldered baluster body rising from a spreading flat base to a short waisted neck with collared rim, slip decorated and brightly glazed in cream, yellow and turquoise with egrets in the pond with large lotus blossoms divided by leaves on rockwork issuing from foaming waves, all below a beaded necklace decorated with auspicious emblems reserved on a rich dark blue ground, the interior and mouth rim glazed in green, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Kochukyo Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, Hong Kong, 9 September 2025