A MING-STYLE BLUE AND WHITE EWER AND COVER SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT.   CLIENTS WHO WISH TO BID ON PREMIUM LOTS ARE REQUESTED TO COMPLETE THE PREMIUM LOT PRE-REGISTRATION 3 WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO THE SALE.




of finely potted pear-shape, set to one side with an elegant curved spout secured to the body by a strut, and to the other a broad strap handle surmounted by an eyelet and applied at the lowest point with three moulded bosses simulating pegs, painted in vivid tones of underglaze-blue with simulated 'heaping and piling', each side with a large quatrefoil panel, one enclosing a fruiting peach spray with leafy branches, the other a fruiting loquat, the panels flanked by the 'Flowers of the Four Seasons', comprising rose, peony, chrysanthemum and camellia, all above a band of lappets and a classic scroll on the short foot, the neck with a broad lotus scroll band below overlapping plantain leaves, the original cover with a further lotus scroll around the eyelet knop

Acquired in France.

Blue-and-white vessels based on early Ming shapes and using early Ming motifs, such as this ewer, belong to the classic repertoire of the imperial Jingdezhen kilns during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods.

A ewer of this pattern with a Qianlong seal mark is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. III, London, 1986, pl. 2565 and col. pl. P. 920; one in the Musee Guimet, Paris, is published in The World's Great Collections, Oriental Ceramics, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 178; and another is included in Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 59.

Covered examples are in the British Museum, London, illustrated in The World's Great Collections, Oriental Ceramics, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 223; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain, vol. 2, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 7; and one, included in the exhibition The Wonders of the Potter's Palette, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984, cat.no. 64, was sold in these rooms, 23rd May 1978, lot 134 and donated to the museum by Dr. K.S. Lo.

For an example of the early 15th century prototype see one illustrated in Krahl, op.cit., vol. II, no. 618 and col. pl. p. 425.