A very rare underglaze blue 'Three Friends' vase, yuhuchun ping Early Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Period

well potted of swelling pear shape, well painted in underglaze cobalt-blue of slate tone with darker areas of 'heaping and piling', the body with a continuous wide band with the 'Three Friends" in a garden with twin knotty pine trees, a flowering prunus tree, and bamboo flourishing amidst a plantain tree, rocks and lingzhi, all below a tall slender neck with a flaring mouth, encircled by a row of upright plantain leaves, key-fret and a narrow band of camellia scrolls, the shoulders draped with a striated pendant trefoil collar, above upright lappets with cloud-shaped scrolls skirting the base, and all between classic scroll borders around the mouth and the foot

Sotheby's London, 6th December 1994,  lot 149.

About 1.5 cm the rim of the mouth has been rebuilt. There is a 20 cm hairline crack that extends diagonally from the middle of the neck down to the widest part of the belly, which has been cleaned to a very high standard. The foot also has a hairline extending around 3/4 of the foot.
"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."

Exquisitely painted with the 'Three Friends of Winter', only a small number of Hongwu porcelains with this attractive motif are known. A vase decorated with a similar version of the design, but with varying border patterns, was sold in our London rooms, 6th December 1994, lot 149; and another from the Jingguantang collection was sold at Christie's New York, 20th March 1997, lot 70. See also a fragmentary pear-shaped ewer recovered from the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns, included in the exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 3, together with other fragments of bowls and dishes with this motif in the centre, cat. nos 148, 150 and 151.

This design was more commonly employed in underglaze red, as at the time copper-red pigment was more readily available than the imported cobalt. Compare two yuhuchun ping in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol, 12, Shanghai, 2000, pls 225 and 226; and another from the Addis collection in the British Museum, published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 2:5. See also two examples; one sold in these rooms, 28th April 1992, lot 29; and the other in our London rooms, 9th June 1992, lot 228. 

It is rare to find the large striped lappets that adorn the shoulder of this piece, although they appear on a blue and white vase with a lotus-scroll design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 4, Taipei, 1991, p. 23.