Lot 3004. A white anhua lotus double-gourd vase, Ming dynasty, 16th century; 24.6 cm., 9 5/8 in. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HKD. Lot sold 625,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2014.

well potted of double-gourd form with a compressed globular bulb surmounted by an upper bulb sweeping up to a tapered mouthrim, the body incised with a fine anhua decoration and covered in a transparent glaze, the lower body incised with a band of wide petal lappets encircling the foot, below a band of floral scroll issuing leafy tendrils and various blossoming flowers including lotus, all below a 'classic' scroll band under the waist, the upper bulb similarly incised with a floral scroll band below a foliate scroll band depicting ruyi-shaped leaves, the neck encircled with a lappet of upright leaves.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 14th December 1971, lot 143.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 21st May 1979, lot 70.
Collection of T.Y. Chao.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 18th November 1986, lot 70. Christie's New York, 1st June 1990, lot 172.

Note: A slightly larger vase of this type was sold in our London rooms, 10th November 2004, lot 559. For the possible origin of this style of decoration see an ewer attributed to the early 15th century, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum. Istanbul, vol. 2, London, 1986, pl. 634; and another published in Denise Patry Leidy, Treasures of Asian Art. The Asia Society’s Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York, 1994, pl. 171.