A 'kinrande' Ewer and Cover. Ming Dynasty, 15th century. Photo Sotheby's

he flattened pear-shaped body standing on a high splayed foot, modeled with raised peach-shaped panels with traces of gilding within a green and turquoise enamel stiff leaf border, against a woven ground with lobed floral reserves, the slender upturned spout with a scroll strut terminating at the body with a mythical beast, set opposite a long strap handle, the neck with a wide band of stiff upright leaves, the fitted cover with an animal-shaped finial (2). Height 10 in., 25.4 cm. Estimate 60,000-80,000 USD

NOTE: Ewers of this type are found in several museum collections. Two in the Baur collection relate closely to the present example and illustrated by John Ayers, The Baur Collection, vol ii, Geneva, 1969, nos. A177 and A178; compare also a bowl in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, published in Inaugural Exhibition, Selected Masterpieces of the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1975, pp. 80-1, pls 75-6.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York. 14 september 2011 www.sothebys.com