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Lot Essay
A similarly decorated stem cup, also with Xuande mark and of the period, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and is illustrated in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, p. 222, no. 84. Other examples include one illustrated in Joined Colors: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1993, p. 81, no. 10, and another in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, p. 179, fig. 185.
The design of nine mythical creatures is discussed by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 128, no. 4:13, where the author notes that the creatures can be found in Shan Hai Jing (Classic of the Seas and Mountains), "a book completed in the Han dynasty by Liu Xiang and his son, revised and illustrated by Guo Pu in the Eastern Jin dynasty". The theme regained popularity during the 15th century.
The design of nine mythical creatures is discussed by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 128, no. 4:13, where the author notes that the creatures can be found in Shan Hai Jing (Classic of the Seas and Mountains), "a book completed in the Han dynasty by Liu Xiang and his son, revised and illustrated by Guo Pu in the Eastern Jin dynasty". The theme regained popularity during the 15th century.