A MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'PHOENIX' MEIPING MARK AND PERIOD OF WANLI

the robustly potted body freely painted in rich cobalt-blue tones with a pair of majestic phoenix flying amidst ruyi-head cloud scrolls, one soaring upwards and the other swooping downwards trailing long tail feathers, all between lotus-lappet bands encircling the spreading foot and broad shoulder and surmounted by a narrow waisted neck with conical rim

Formerly in the collection of Dr Fleischer, Berlin, purchased in 1990 (by repute).

A Wanli vase of this shape and similar phoenix design is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol.1, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 953. See another meiping of this shape but painted with large ferocious dragons between similar borders, such as the vase in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics, London, 1996, pl. 428; one from the Toguri Museum, Tokyo, sold in these rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 33; and a third example in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, p. 290, pl. 11:32, where the author notes that 'eight blue-and-white meiping of this type, still with their covers , were discovered in the Wanli emperor's tomb, the Ding Ling. They were among the relatively few porcelains discovered there when the tomb was investigated.'

Compare also a vase sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2005, lot 646; and another included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibitions Ming Blue and White Porcelain, London, 1946, cat.no. 60, and Art Treasures Exhibition, London, 1932, cat.no. 1038, also sold in these rooms, 8th June 1958, lot 13.