AN EXTREMELY RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'LOTUS' EWER MING DYNASTY, HONGWU PERIOD

of well potted swelling 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, well painted in soft slate tones of underglaze-blue with darker tones of 'heaping and piling', the body with a continuous lotus scroll issuing large and smaller blooms and feathery leaves, all above a band of lappets and a classic scroll on the short foot, the neck with a lotus scroll below a key fret and overlapping plantain leaves, the spout and handle decorated with further lotus scrolls, with a key fret around the mouthrim

The vase has a clean lateral break across the spout (10cm down from the tip of the spout), the cloud-shaped bracket, the keyfret and horizontal lingzhi scroll band on the neck of the vase and on the handle from the point of attachment to the wall of the vase to the top of the handle. The mouth has a couple of minor areas of retouching to fritting along the mouthrim. The break has been restored quite well. There is a light hairline crack to the base of the spout. The actual colour of the cobalt is slightly paler than in the catalogue illustration.
"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."

The present ewer is a rare and fine example of Hongwu period blue-and-white ewers of this elegant pear-form. Fragments of another Hongwu blue and white ewer of this type painted with a chrysanthemum scroll motif as the main theme were found at Dongmentou, Zhushan, in 1994, and included in the exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 4.

Compare two related ewers of the Hongwu period, one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Feng Xianming, Wenwu kaogu zhuankan, series 10, no. 1, 1973, p. 22, fig. 7, and one, formerly from the collection of Kishi Takushin and now in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, published in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 14, 1976, p. 9, pl. 1. These two ewers differ from the present lot in that the Palace Museum piece is painted with four flower sprays as the main design, while the Idemitsu Museum ewer is decorated with a peony scroll on the main body. It is also interesting to note that the present ewer has matching lotus scroll decoration painted on both the handle and the spout. Another ewer decorated with a chrysanthemum scroll design, from the T. T. Tsui collection and included in Sotheby's Hong Kong, Twenty Years, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 38, and in Sotheby's Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 203, was sold in these rooms, 30th April 1991, lot 10, again, 27th October 2003, lot 6127 and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2005, lot 1408.

Although Hongwu period blue-and-white wares have been excavated at Jingdezhen, their number remain small and are stil considered a rarity compared with contemporaneous underglaze-red and monochrome wares. There was a scarcity of imported cobalt at the time as foreign trade during this period was strictly regulated.