A blue and white 'bird' beaker vase, Mark and period of Wanli | 明萬曆 青花花鳥紋出戟花觚 《大明萬曆年製》款

S. Marchant & Son, London.

馬錢特，倫敦

The popularity of vases of this archaistic form during the Ming and Qing dynasties is evident in the various media in which it was produced, including cloisonné, jade, bronze and porcelain. The present vase, however, is extremely rare for its design of waterbirds swimming in water and flying among flowering branches and no other closely related example appears to have been published. A related charming scene of birds near water and framed by a leafy branches is found on a wucai pear-shape vase, with Wanli reign mark and of the period, sold in these rooms, 8th April 2007, lot 525, which also features floral branches issuing from rockwork, but surrounded by hovering butterflies rather than birds. Compare also a Jiajing mark and period vase of this form, with related flower and rockwork decoration on the neck, also repeated on the body, from the collection of Robert Chang, sold in our London rooms, 8th April 1981, lot 248, again in these rooms, 24th November 1981, lot 112, and a third time in our New York rooms, 16th September 2009, lot 290.

The Palace Museum, Beijing, holds three vases of this type, all of which belonged to the Qing Court collection, one of Zhengde mark and period, decorated with dragons at the neck, body and foot, another of Jiajing mark and period, painted respectively with peonies, dragons and clouds, and a third Wanli mark and period vase decorated with peonies, a dragon and phoenix and clouds. All three vases are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Shanghai, 2000, pls 50, 91 and 171. It is interesting to observe their stylistic transformation over several reign periods.

The variety of designs adorning vases of this type attest to the popularity of this form during the Wanli period; see one, but with a stepped foot, adorned with scrolling lotus on the body and peony and bamboo around the neck, in the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, vol. V, Hong Kong, 1963, p. 38, pl. 9; two vases decorated with a dragon between peony shrubs at the neck and cloud sprays at the foot, in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, and from the John Gardner Coolidge collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, published in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 137, and Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collection, vol. 10, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 239 respectively; and another sold at Christie's New York, 19th September 1996, lot 271. Vases of this form are also known painted with the bajixiang scattered amongst a leafy and flowering lotus scroll; one was sold in these rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 3164; and another from the Jingguantang collection was sold at Christie’s New York, 18th September 1997, lot 149, and again in these rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 340.