A rare Yixing stoneware tripod incense burner, Qing dynasty, signed Chen Mingyuan. Estimate 800,000 — 1,000,000 HKD. Unsold. Photo courtesy Sotheby's

of archaistic ding form, modelled with a deep rounded body resting on three slightly tapered tubular legs, the galleried rim surmounted by a pair of arched handles, the exterior decorated with a frieze of six stylised dragons alternating with whorl bosses, all against a leiwen ground, above a band of pendent archaistic blades enclosing hooked 'V'-shaped motifs against a leiwen ground, the base impressed with a four-character seal reading Chen Mingyuan zhi ('Made by Chen Mingyuan'), the stoneware of a greyish-brown colour, wood stand; 20 cm., 7 7/8  in.

Provenance: Du Yuesheng (1888-1951), Shanghai, and thence by descent.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 24th May 1978, lot 326.

Bibliography: Jan Shing-Hwa, I-hsing Pottery, Taipei, 1982, fig. 9.

Notes: This incense burner bears the seal mark of the master potter Chen Mingyuan, a native of Yixing in Jiangsu province, who is recorded as having been active in the Kangxi and Yongzheng reigns. Chen is considered one of the most talented and versatile Yixing potters, who produced numerous pieces in a variety of styles. Those of his works that imitated archaic bronzes were particularly highly regarded by contemporary connoisseurs. Wu Qian (1733-1813) in his Yangxian mingtao lu(Famous pottery of Yangxian) commented on an archaistic phoenix-shaped vessel with Mingyuan’s mark, “It is an elegant piece which compares favorably with the ancient vessels of the Three Dynasties” (see the exhibition catalogue Themes and Variations. The Zisha Pottery of Chen Mingyuan, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, p. 61).

Compare an Yixing square ding in the K.S. Lo collection illustrated in The Stonewares of Yixing, Sotheby’s, London, 1986, pl.158; and a pair sold in these rooms, 24th May 1978, lot 329. Further vessels in the form of archaic bronzes and signed Chen Mingyuan include a gui in the collection of Alice Boney, published ibid., pl. 157; three jue included in the exhibitionThemes and Variations, op. cit., cat. nos 47-49. Compare also an example of jue form sold in these rooms, 24th May 1978, lot 324, and another, from the collection of Mr and Mrs Jimmy Sha, sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 27th May 2012, lot 550.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Works of Art, Hong Kong, 07 avr. 2015