A BLUE AND WHITE 'FRUITS' MEIPING MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD

the elegant form rising from a slightly waisted base to broad, generous shoulders, well painted in soft washes of cobalt, with a wide band of six fruiting sprays arranged in an alternating double register, the upper register showing detached peach, pomegranate and crab apple, the lower register with lychee, loquat and cherry, the leafy branches further issuing small blossoms and buds, all between double-line borders, the shoulders encircled by a band of lotus petals enclosing elaborate trefoils, the foot skirted by a band of upright overlapping leaves, the underglaze blue with characteristic 'heaped and piled' effect giving the designs depth and texture, all beneath a slightly blue-tinted vitreous glaze suffused with a natural 'soft paste' craquelure, the base left unglazed, the neck mounted with a 19th century beaded silver rim

Collection of Luigi Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta (1873-1933), Villa Galeffi, Montevarchi, Italy.
Collection of Gino Soldi (1880-1958), and thence by descent.

The neck has not been examined out of its silver mounting. There is a network of glaze lines to the body and an approximately 2 cm-long hairline crack extending out of the silver collar. Subtle signs of potting present to the body around the visible lute line. There are minor firing imperfections, and a faint vertical line and small adjacent patch from dirt embedded in the surface.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This vase represents one of the classic patterns of the Yongle period (1403-24) that illustrates the phenomenal advances made by Jingdezhen’s potters and painters in less than a century, since blue-and-white porcelain began to be made there. Both in terms of its well-proportioned shape, which was produced with various kinds of decoration, and its lush fruit pattern, one of the most popular motifs of early Ming (1368-1644) blue-and-white which appears equally on other shapes of the period, this design set a standard of excellence that would be emulated for centuries to come.

Meiping, in the Yongle period perhaps still used as wine jars, were made in various sizes and were equally popular in China and abroad, as examples preserved both in the Chinese palace collections and the Safavid and Ottoman royal collections in Iran and Turkey document. Although some scholars have attributed some of these vases to the Xuande reign (1426-35), all vessels of this design appear to be unmarked.

Several early Ming meiping of similar design and size as the present vase are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see a Yongle piece illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 12, pl. 12; another in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pl. 85; and a third, attributed to the Xuande period, published in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue-and-white porcelain in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2002, vol. 1, cat. no. 76.

Two blue and white meiping of this design, one attributed to the Yongle, the other to the Xuande period, are also in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Minji meihin zuroku [Illustrated catalogue of important Ming porcelains], Tokyo, 1977-78, vol. 1, pls 12 and 39, the two examples slightly varying in proportion, and the latter with the design more tightly arranged, and with a cover.

For two similar vases out of a total of six from the Ottoman Royal collection, see Regina Krahl and John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. 2, London, 1986, no. 624; and four meiping of this design from the Safavid Royal collection preserved in the Ardabil Shrine in Iran are recorded and one of them illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, D.C., 1956 (rev. ed., London, 1981), pl. 51 top right.

Three  meiping of this design and similar size were sold in our Hong Kong rooms; one from the Edward T. Chow collection on 19th May 1981, lot 409; another from a Nagoya tea ceremony collection on 8th April 2014, lot 3023; and a third on 7th October 2015, lot 3607.  A larger Yongle vase from the Estate of Laurance S. Rockefeller was sold in these rooms, 21st/22nd September 2005, lot 64.