Lot Essay
This appears to be the only Xuande marked reserve-decorated stembowl painted with thirteen sea creatures
A Xuande-marked example of similar shape, but painted with nine white animals on a blue ground is illustrated by Brankston in Early Ming Wares of Chingtechen, pl. 10b, now in the British Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, Vol. 5, col. pl. 52; a Xuande-marked stemcup (one of fourteen) in the National Palace Museum, Taibei is illustrated in the Special Exhibition of Xuande Porcelain, 1980, Catalogue, pl. 69; a marked Xuande bowl decorated with fifteen finely-pencilled creatures in swirling waves is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II,part 2, pl. 51a-c
A Yongle stembowl of identical shape and design with thirteen sea creatures reserved in white against waves in underglaze-blue was included in the joint exhibition, the Urban Council, Hong Kong and the Jingdezhen Museum of Ceramic History, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Catalogue, pl. 33; together with a Yongle stemcup with the thirteen sea creatures in copper-red against a similar underglaze-blue ground, pl. 37
For two stemcups painted with the same subject in overglaze iron-red on an underglaze-blue ground in the Shanghai Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art see Shanghai Bowuguan cangci xuanji, pl. 76, and Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, col. pl. 63
A stemcup with sea animals in underglaze-blue reserved against waves enamelled in iron-red from the Ip Yee and the S.C. Ko collections was included in the Min Chiu Society's exhibition of An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, 1980, Catalogue, no. 92 as well as in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, no. 66; another identical piece is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, vol. 1, pl. 2; and another in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Shogakukan Series, vol. 14, pl. 185
The origins and iconographic significance of these animals on Ming porcelain are discussed by Chen Ching Kuang of the National Palace Museum in her paper "Mythical Sea Creatures on Ming Porcelain" delivered at the Colloquy of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, June 1992 (in publication)
A Xuande-marked example of similar shape, but painted with nine white animals on a blue ground is illustrated by Brankston in Early Ming Wares of Chingtechen, pl. 10b, now in the British Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, Vol. 5, col. pl. 52; a Xuande-marked stemcup (one of fourteen) in the National Palace Museum, Taibei is illustrated in the Special Exhibition of Xuande Porcelain, 1980, Catalogue, pl. 69; a marked Xuande bowl decorated with fifteen finely-pencilled creatures in swirling waves is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II,part 2, pl. 51a-c
A Yongle stembowl of identical shape and design with thirteen sea creatures reserved in white against waves in underglaze-blue was included in the joint exhibition, the Urban Council, Hong Kong and the Jingdezhen Museum of Ceramic History, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Catalogue, pl. 33; together with a Yongle stemcup with the thirteen sea creatures in copper-red against a similar underglaze-blue ground, pl. 37
For two stemcups painted with the same subject in overglaze iron-red on an underglaze-blue ground in the Shanghai Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art see Shanghai Bowuguan cangci xuanji, pl. 76, and Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, col. pl. 63
A stemcup with sea animals in underglaze-blue reserved against waves enamelled in iron-red from the Ip Yee and the S.C. Ko collections was included in the Min Chiu Society's exhibition of An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, 1980, Catalogue, no. 92 as well as in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, no. 66; another identical piece is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, vol. 1, pl. 2; and another in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Shogakukan Series, vol. 14, pl. 185
The origins and iconographic significance of these animals on Ming porcelain are discussed by Chen Ching Kuang of the National Palace Museum in her paper "Mythical Sea Creatures on Ming Porcelain" delivered at the Colloquy of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, June 1992 (in publication)