A RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘PEACOCK’ MEIPING, MING DYNASTY, MID-15TH CENTURY

Auction Closed

September 23, 08:35 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

A RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘PEACOCK’ MEIPING

MING DYNASTY, MID-15TH CENTURY

明十五世紀中青花文明富貴圖梅瓶

robustly potted with high broad round shoulders sloping down towards the tapered body and gently splayed foot, painted with a central register of a pair of peacocks amidst large blossoming peonies and pierced rockwork, framed above by pendent ornaments suspended within a cloud-lappet collar reserved on a cell diaper ground, the foot encircled by a border of upright lappets, the short tapering neck painted with a classic scroll border

Height 13¼ in, 33.6 cm

Sotheby's London, 1st March 1946, lot 14.

Bluett & Sons, London.

Collection of Robert C. Bruce, Esq (1898-1953).

Sotheby's London, 12th May 1953, lot 88.

Bluett & Sons, London.

Collection of Mrs Walter Sedgwick (1883-1967).

Sotheby’s London, 2nd July 1968, lot 132.

William Clayton Ltd., London, 29th July 1968.

來源

倫敦蘇富比1946年3月1日，編號14

Bluett & Sons，倫敦

Robert C. Bruce (1898-1953) 收藏

倫敦蘇富比1953年5月12日，編號88

Bluett & Sons，倫敦

Walter Sedgwick 夫人 (1883-1967) 收藏

倫敦蘇富比1968年7月2日，編號132

William Clayton Ltd.，倫敦，1968年7月29日

This meiping bears many of the characteristics of wares of the Interregnum period (1436-1464), in particular the deep inky cobalt-blue used in a fairly liquid solution. Peacocks and peonies were a popular design to decorate meiping vases at that time. Compare a vase with this design, excavated in Nanjing and now in the Nanjing Museum, which has been attributed to the Xuande period (1426-1435), in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China, Beijing, 2008, vol. 7, pl. 189; and to the Zhengtong period (1436-1449) in Zhang Pusheng and Huo Hua, San yi Ming kongbaiqi qinghua ci [Three thoughts on Interregnum blue-and-white porcelain], Zhuo shuo zhong xian. Shiwu shiji zhongqi Jingdezhen ciqi guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwen gao/Lustre Revealed. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Jingdezhen Porcelain in Mid Fifteenth Century, Shanghai, 2019, p. 75, figs 1-1 and 1-2. Compare also a jar in the Tianminlou Collection with peacocks among peonies and a similar diaper border around the shoulder, and a meiping with peacocks among peonies in the Shanghai Museum, both attributed to the Interregnum period, and another meiping with this design in the Palace Museum, Beijing, attributed to the Zhengtong reign, included in the exhibition catalogue Zhuo shuo zhong xian. Shiwu shiji zhongqi Jingdezhen ciqi teji/Lustre Revealed. Jingdezhen Porcelain in Mid Fifteenth Century China, Shanghai Museum, 2019, cat. nos 226, 239, and 240. Further examples of meiping with this subject include one in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, included in the exhibition, The Charles B. Hoyt Collection. Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1952, cat. no. 390, attributed to the Xuande period; another in the Roemer Museum, Hildesheim, illustrated in Ulrich Wiesner, Chinesisches Porzellan, Mainz, 1981, p. 56, pl. 4, attributed to the 15th century.