Lot 102. A blue and white ‘dragon’ stemcup, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 9.5cm., 3 3/4 in. Estimate 80,000 - 100,000 GBP. Lot sold 194,500 GBP © Sotheby's 2013

the curved rounded sides rising to a gently flared rim, resting on a hollow stem moulded with horizontal ridges simulating bamboo, freely painted to the exterior with a single three-clawed dragon with a slender undulating body and open jaws, pacing amongst flame wisps and chasing a pearl, the interior with a central medallion enclosing a chrysanthemum spray, all encircled with a classic scroll at the rim, lacquer stand and Japanese wood box. Quantity: 3. 

Provenance: Shimojo Art, 1980s.
A Japanese Private Collection, 1988.
Masao Iketani, 2000.

Note: with freely executed sketches of dynamic dragons chasing flaming pearls appear to have been in use throughout China during the Yuan period. Related examples include one in the British Museum, London, published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 1:24; two similar stemcups from the collections of Mrs O. Harriman and Lord Cunliffe, included in the exhibition Chinese Blue and White Porcelain: 14th to 19thCenturies, The Oriental Ceramic Society at the Arts Council Gallery, London, 1953-3, cat. nos. 11 and 12 respectively; and a fourth example from the R.H.R Palmer and Jingguantang collections, sold several times at auction and most recently in these rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 17, from the Meiyintang collection.

Similar stemcups decorated with dragons and phoenix were excavated from the Yuan city site at Jininglu in Inner Mongolia; see Chen Yongzhi (ed.), Porcelain Unearthed from Jininglu Ancient City Site in Inner Mongolia, Beijing, 2004, pl. 46 for a dragon stemcup, pls. 42-4 for three stemcups decorated with phoenix, and p. 12 for several pieces packed together in a jar as found on site. Another example, excavated from the tomb of the eminent Ming official Wang Xingzu, datable to the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), in the Nanjing Museum, is published in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 33; and a third, in the Art Museum, Chinese University of Hong Kong, was included in the exhibition Yuan and Ming Blue and White Ware from Jiangxi, Jiangxi Provincial Museum, Jiangxi, 2002, cat. no. 15. Compare a related stemcup, but with stiff leaves encircling the foot, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 12.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London, 15 mai 2013