Lot 101. A rare finely painted blue and white 'Landscape' cup, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722). Height 3 in., 7.6 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Sold for 15,000 USD. © Sotheby's.

finely potted, of beaker form, supported on a tall straight foot, the steep, gently flaring sides rising to an everted rim, the exterior superbly painted in shades of underglaze blue with a continuous scene depicting a procession of bullock carts approaching the gates of a walled city, the surrounding landscape finely detailed with washy dots, with faint washes above suggesting the peaks of a mountain range in the background, all enclosed within double line borders, the interior with a circular medallion enclosing two huts within a landscape, the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 

Note: This delicate cup is an outstanding example of the high level of skill of porcelain artists working at Jingdezhen during the Kangxi period. Despite the small surface of the cup, the craftsman has successfully evoked the depth of the landscape by skillfully using inky washes of underglaze blue in techniques reminiscent of ink painting. Another Kangxi mark and period cup of the same subject, possibly the pair to the present cup, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated in Rose Kerr, Chinese Ceramics. Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, Chicago, 1998, pl. 41. 

Cup, porcelain painted in underglaze blue with scene of travellers approaching a city; China (Jingdezhen), Qing dynasty, mark and period of Kangxi, 1710-1722. Given by Miss Dorothy Bushell, FE.119-1975. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 12 sept. 2018, 10:30 AM