WANLI

Details

Two late Ming blue and white 'kraak porselein' bottles
Wanli
The pear-shaped body moulded with interlocking pomegranate panels and surmounted by a tall tapering neck, painted with various birds, phoenix and squirrels in pine and bamboo alternated with panels enclosing blue-washed geometrical panels, the neck with ribboned scroll and double gourd suspended from ruyi motifs around the rim, one with rim chip
30 cm. high (2)

Special notice

Christie's charge a buyer's premium of 20.825% of the hammer price for lots with values up to NLG 200,000. If the hammer price exceeds the NLG 200,000 then the premium is calculated at 20.825% of the first NLG 200,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of NLG 200,000.

Lot Essay

Panels in the shape of pomegranates are a feature rarely seen on kraak porcelain, and then they appear to be exclusive to pouring vessels. Vases of this shape but with slightly different decoration are illustrated by Ayers and Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, London 1986, p. 755-6, cat. nos. 1397, 1398; compare also with closely related examples, ibid, nos. 1392-1396. A similar bottle was sold in our London Rooms, 15 November 2000, lot 234.

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