Ming dynasty Blue and White Porcelain sold at Bonhams London, 15 May 2023

16 mai 2023

Ming dynasty Blue and White Porcelain sold at Bonhams London, 15 May 2023

Lot 196. A blue and white 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' sleeve vase, Chongzhen period (1627-1644); 41.5cm high (2). Sold for £40,620. © Bonhams 2001-2023

Of cylindrical form tapering slightly towards the unglazed foot and rising to a waisted neck with everted rim, painted to depict the equestrian warrior Zhao Yun beside two standard bearers, conversing with an elderly man, Gongsun Zan, in a landscape of pine and rockwork, all below a border of pendent leaves, wood stand.

Note: For a vase with a different version of the same scene see Sotheby's New York, 11 September 2019, lot 610.

Lot 197. A blue and white jar, Chongzhen period (1627-1644); 21cm wide. Sold for £20,400. © Bonhams 2001-2023

Painted with a continuous scene of two gentlemen in conversation surrounded by attendants bearing a canopy and banners before a sedan chair, in a riverside garden with willow, pine and rockwork, a three line inscription to the reverse, wenzhang qiangu shi, deshi cunxin zhi, ping chun tang, 'Literary works are matters of all time, failure and success are known in the speck of mind, the Hall of Harmonious Fragrance' all below a formal leaf collar, twin apertures to each side at the shoulder.

Note: The line is a quote from the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu Ou Ti (A Chance Topic). It indicates that literature documents historical events, and its successful or failure in doing so is judged by later readers.

Lot 189. A blue and white 'dragon' porcelain shard, Early Ming Dynasty; 21cm diam. Sold for £9,562.50 . © Bonhams 2001-2023

Depicting the head of dragon with large bulging eyes below swirling clouds, the shard forming a section of a large jar.

Note: The dragon bears a resemblance to that depicted on the Xuande mark and period jar illustrated in Valenstein, Suzanne G. A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975, pl. 82. Compare also to a shard from a large jar with masks and dragons excavated from the Xuande strata at the site of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, illustrated in Chang Foundation, Xuande Imperial Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1998, no. F-17.

Lot 191. A blue and white hexagonal bottle vase, Chongzhen period (1627-1644); 27.5cm high. Sold for £3,570 . © Bonhams 2001-2023

The body decorated with gentlemen and attendants in a pine-strewn mountainous landscape, the neck with floral and foliate panels.

Lot 190. A silver mounted blue and white jar, Chongzhen period (1627-1644); 12.7cm diam. Sold for £2,167.50 . © Bonhams 2001-2023

Painted with a seated gentleman and boy attendant in a fenced garden amongst bamboo, pine, plantain and rockwork, with silver neck mounts and cover.

Lot 182. A blue and white ewer, Ming Dynasty, circa 1500; 20.2cm high. Sold for £1,530. © Bonhams 2001-2023

The squat rounded body rising to a broad gently tapering neck, flanked by an arched handle and S-shaped spout connected with a scrolled bracket, painted with stylised lotus sprays borne on undulating leafy stems.

Lot 188. A blue and white 'Kraak' bowl, Late Ming Dynasty; 35cm diam. Sold for £1,530. © Bonhams 2001-2023

The deep rounded sides rising from a tapering foot to a barbed rim, painted to the interior with a riverside scene in the central medallion, the well with radiating panelled designs of an official with an acolyte, riverscape with distant figures and stylised European tulip and floral scrolls divided by narrower panels of upright coiling shrubs, the exterior similarly decorated with panelled designs above a continuous floral scroll.

Lot 192. Two blue and white jars, Late Ming Dynasty The tallest: 20cm high (2). Sold for £1,530. © Bonhams 2001-2023

Each of globular form, one decorated with figures in a garden, the other with lotus flowers borne on scrolling foliage.

Lot 185. A blue and white figure of a Daoist deity, Wanli period (1573-1620); 21.3cm high. Sold for £1,211.25. © Bonhams 2001-2023

Seated on a throne supported on a plinth painted with ruyi-shaped clouds and trigram, wearing official's robe and headdress, the hands held in front of the chest hidden beneath a florets-patterned cloth.

Lot 195. A group of Swatow wares, Late Ming Dynasty. The jar: 23.5cm high (3). Sold for £1,020. © Bonhams 2001-2023

Comprising: A blue and white baluster jar decorated with flowering plants and rockwork; a ribbed bottle vase with alternating panels of chilong and lotus; and a tripod incense burner decorated with 'The Three Friends of Winter'.

Lot 183. A blue and white kendi, Late Ming Dynasty; 22cm high. Sold for £765 . © Bonhams 2001-2023

The compressed globular body and the spout decorated with vertical ribbing and painted with a scene of a garden veranda, the trumpet neck with floral sprays.