Lot 37
  • 37

A BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON’ VASE, YUHUCHUNPING YUAN DYNASTY

Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 GBP
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Description

  • porcelain, textile stand and paulownia wood box
the pear-shaped body rising from a spreading foot to a tall waisted neck flaring at the rim, freely painted to the exterior with a three-clawed dragon chasing a flaming pearl, the interior rim encircled by a foliate band, textile stand and Japanese wood box

Provenance

Mayuyama & Co. Ltd., Tokyo.
Hirano Kotoken.

Exhibited

Gen Min meihin ten [Exhibition of Yuan and Ming ceramics], The Japan Ceramic Society, Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, 1956, cat. no. 62.
Chūgoku Sō Gen bijutsu ten [Chinese art of the Sung and Yuan periods], Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1961, cat. no. 294.
Chūgoku tōji meiho ten [Exhibition of the Great Works of Chinese Ceramics], The Gotoh Museum, Tokyo, 1966.
Chūgoku bijutsu ten series: Sō Gen no bijutsu [Chinese art exhibition series; The art of Song and Yuan dynasty], vol. 4, Osaka Art Museum, Osaka, 1978, cat. no. 1-240.

Literature

Seiichi Okuda, Sakutarou Tanaka, Fukosai Hirota, Haruzo Hayashi (eds), Chūgoku no tōji [Chinese ceramics], Tokyo, 1955, pl. 237.
Ryoichi Fujioka, Tōki zenshūGen Min sho no sometsuke [The complete works of ceramics: The first blue and white ceramics form Yuan and Ming dynasty], Tokyo, 1960, pl. 5.
Ryūsen Shūhō. Sōgyō shichijū shūnen kinen/Mayuyama: Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 1, pl. 703.

Condition

The rim and about half of the neck is covered in restoration, with extensive overpaint and overspray. The vase has been misfired, resulting in a yellowish brown porcelain body particularly to the neck (obscuring the dragon head) and the lower body. The uneven footring is fired to a buff-orange tone. There are other glaze firing imperfections such as burst glaze bubbles, minor glaze pulls, grit adhesion and iron spots.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

A bottle vase similarly painted in underglaze blue with three-clawed dragons chasing a flaming pearl, excavated at Wutonghua in Inner Mongolia, was included in the exhibition Empires Beyond the Great Wall, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, 1994, cat. no. 91; two similar vases were in the Charles Russell collection: one later in the Ataka collection and now in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, included in the Museum’s exhibition Blue and White Wares in Yuan Dynasty. 14th Century Ching-te Chen Wares, Osaka, 1985, cat. no. 24, was sold in these rooms, 12th February 1936, lot 75; the other, later in the Alfred Clark and Meiyintang collections, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 38; another vase was sold in our New York rooms, 31st/1st March/April 2005, lot 101; and a further example with a key-fret border around the foot, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 28th April 1998, lot 726.

Compare also a bottle vase painted with five-clawed dragons among clouds, unearthed from Xingyang county in Henan province and now in the Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou, illustrated in Ye Peilan, Yuandai ciqi [Yuan dynasty porcelain], Beijing, 1998, pl. 90B, together with another in the Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, pl. 90A.