A rare imperial yellow-glazed stembowl. Mark and period of Jiajing - Sotheby's

finely potted, the wide flared bowl resting on a narrow stem splaying toward the base, covered overall with a smooth and rich egg-yolk yellow glaze, the interior of the stem reserved in white and inscribed in underglaze blue with an evenly spaced six-character reign mark under a smoky transparent glaze; 15.3 cm., 6 in. Estimation: 3,000,000 - 5,000,000 HKD

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16th November 1973, lot 119.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23rd May 1978, lot 71.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 17th May 1988, lot 5.Sotheby's London, 20th June 2001, lot 41.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.

EXHIBITED: Monochrome Ceramics of the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Min Chiu Society at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1977, cat. no. 82.

LITTERATURE: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1683.

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: Yellow stembowls are extremely rare, but a similar Jiajing piece in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is published in Minji meihin zuroku [Illustrated catalogue of important Ming porcelains], Tokyo, 1977-8, vol. III, pl. 37; and one with dragons moulded in low relief on the inside, from the Sir Percival David Collection is in the British Museum, London, included in the exhibition Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period. Hongzhi to Wanli (1488-1620), Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1994-5, cat. no. 6. Another yellow Jiajing stembowl of this undecorated type was sold in these rooms 18th May 1982, lot 188, and one with incised dragons in our London rooms, 13th October 1992, lot 95, from the collection of Sir David Home.

A Xuande (AD 1426-35) prototype from the collection of Alfred Clark and now in the Au Bak Ling collection was included in the exhibition 100 Masterpieces of Imperial Chinese Ceramics from the Au Bak Ling Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1998.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection, Part IV - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. Hong Kong | 09 oct. 2012 www.sothebys.com