AN EXTREMELY RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'PEONY' EWER MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD

elegantly potted with a pear-shaped body rising to a tapered neck and a flared rim, the slender curved spout attached to the neck by a cloud-shaped strut, set opposite an arched strap handle with a small eyelet loop above a ruyi-shaped terminal attached to the body and applied with three bosses imitating metal studs, vibrantly painted in varying intensities of cobalt on either side with a peony in full bloom with attendant buds and folige, the neck collared by a band of lingzhi scrolls, all between upright lappets at the neck and skirting the foot, the spout painted with five chrysanthemum sprays and ruyi around its base, and the handle decorated with lotus scroll

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20th May 1980, lot 46.
Collection of T.T. Tsui, Jingguantang Collection, Hong Kong.
Christie's Hong Kong, 5th November 1997, lot 892.

Regina Krahl, 'The T.T. Tsui Collection of Chinese Ceramics', Orientations, December 1989, p. 39, fig. 16.
Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1636.

One cm of the tip of the spout has been rebuilt. The cloud strut has been restuck. The handle has been restuck at the joint to the body, below the arch and at the base. The neck has a diagonal hairline extending from the front of the rim down towards the base of the handle. The handle has been reinforced to the body on the interior with a small fill.
"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."

Ewers of this form are classic porcelains of the Yongle period, when they were produced with many different flower or fruit designs. The present design with its lush peony blooms is, however, very rare. Only two other ewers of this pattern appear to be recorded, both preserved incomplete: one ewer in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, with the bridge to the spout and loop on the handle missing, is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, ed. John Ayers, London, 1986, vol. II, no. 619; the other ewer missing part of its spout, from the Ardabil Shrine and now in the National Museum of Iran, Tehran, is published in T. Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East: Topkapi and Ardebil, Hong Kong, 1981, vol. III, pl. A80.

Blue-and-white ewers of this form, painted with three different designs, recovered from the Yongle stratum of the Ming imperial kiln sites were included in the exhibition Jingdezhen chutu Ming Xuande guanyao ciqi / Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. nos. 57-9.

A yuhuchun bottle of this pear shape, lacking handle, strut and spout, decorated with a very similar large peony scroll but different accompanying borders, is in the National Museum of China, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu / Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section]: Mingdai [Ming dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 12.