A RARE BLUE AND WHITE DOUBLE-GOURD WALL VASE MARK AND PERIOD OF WANLI

the flat-back vase elegantly potted of double-gourd form, supported on a slightly flared foot, gently rising to a slender neck and lipped mouth, the lower bulb brilliantly painted in cobalt blue with a seated high official holding a ruyi, flanked by his attendants in front of a screen, surrounded by scholars and further attendants on the sides, all in a garden scene with trees and rockwork, below bands of scrolling foliage and pendant ruyi-heads, the upper bulb painted with ducks swimming in a pond, together with birds of various kinds resting and flying amongst fruiting trees springing from rockwork on the shore, the neck decorated with a key-fret border above a full-frontal dragon within a cartouche, the reverse inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a rectangular cartouche between a pendant lotus leaf and a lotus bloom

Collection of T.T. Tsui, Jingguantang Collection.
Christie's Hong Kong, 5th November 1997, lot 887.

Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1990, pp. 304-305, cat. no. 137.

Regina Krahl, 'The T.T. Tsui Collection of Chinese Ceramics', Orientations, December 1989, fig. 19 (left).

The overall condition is quite good except for a 3 cm and a 6.3 cm glaze crack to the back along the luting lines above and below the larger bulb. There are some expected stained burst air bubbles, iron spots, glaze gaps and minor surface scratches. The brilliant cobalt blue is slightly tinged to violet.
"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."

A closely related vase in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 167; another in the Musee Guimet is published in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 82; and a third example, included in the Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 676, was sold in our London rooms, 1^st November, 1966, lot 103, and again at Doyle New York, 16^th September 2003, lot 99, from the F. Gordon Morrill Collection.

Margaret Medley illustrates a Wanli vase of this type in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in 'Organisation and Production at Jingdezhen in the Sixteenth Century', Percival David Foundation Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia, no. 16, pl. 11, and notes that wall vases of this form of various designs are recorded in 1592.