Lot 85. A rare blue and white 'Buddhist Lion' water sprinkler, Ming Dynasty, 16th century; 22 cm, 8⅝ in. Estimate: 25,000 - 35,000 EUR. Lot sold: 32,500 EUR. © Sotheby's.

la panse globulaire reposant sur un pied élargi, peinte de trois lions bouddhistes, surmontée de trois frises stylisées et florales, l'épaulement garni de six anses tubulaires réunies en partie supérieure en un col élargi.

Note: Two sprinklers of this very rare shape, both similarly decorated with three buddhist lions playing with ribbon-tied balls, are illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. II, London, 1986, p. 658, nos. 1021 and 1022. Another example, closest in design to the present lot, decorated with lions at play, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, published in R. L. Hobson, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, vol. II, New York, 1976, pl. 68, fig. 1. Several examples have been sold at auction, compare, for example, a sprinkler sold at Christie's New York, 23rd march 2012, lot 1987, and another sprinkler sold in Sotheby's London, 14th May 2014, lot 212.

Sotheby's. Arts d'Asie, Paris, 10 december 2019.