Lot 32. A blue and white pear-shaped ewer with Dutch silver mounts, Chongzhen period (1628-1644); 24.7cm (9 3/4in) high. Sold for £5,737.50  (Est: £2,000 - £3,000). © Bonhams 2001-2022

Finely potted of pear shape rising from a tall spreading foot and rising to a flaring mouth, applied with a loop handle, decorated around the exterior with a scene of two scholars engaged in conversation with a guqing and scrolls amidst a garden, attended by two boys carrying covered trays, the shoulder with floral border and the neck with sprays of stylised tulips, applied with Dutch silver hinged lid.

Provenance: Fa. A. C. Beeling & Zn., Hofleverancier, Leeuwarden (label)
John R. Berwald Oriental Ceramics & Works of Art, London, July 1995.

Note: Compare with a related silver-mounted blue and white mustard pot, Shunzhi, from the Butler Family collection, illustrated in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collections: Beauty's Enchantment, Shanghai, 2005, pp.320-321, no.120.

Bonhams. THE MARSH COLLECTION ART FOR THE LITERATI, 3 November 2022, London, New Bond Street