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Lot Essay
The very unusual shape of this vase and its early 15th century prototypes is referred to by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, New York, 1978, p. 109, fig. 77, as being derived from a Persian model, possibly alluding to a metal shape.
For an early 15th century prototype see the vase with Xuande mark, and of the period, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Ming Chu Qinghuaci (Early Ming Blue and White Ceramics in the Palace Museum Collection), vol. 1, Beijing, 2002, pp. 158-9, no. 83. Later in the Ming period vases of this type were still being produced, with or without a Xuande mark. See the two vases dated to the 16th century included in the exhibition, Ming Blue and White, Philadelphia, 1949, nos. 120 and 12l. The first from the collection of Russell Tyson appears not to have had a mark, while no. 121, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has a Xuande mark.
For an early 15th century prototype see the vase with Xuande mark, and of the period, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Ming Chu Qinghuaci (Early Ming Blue and White Ceramics in the Palace Museum Collection), vol. 1, Beijing, 2002, pp. 158-9, no. 83. Later in the Ming period vases of this type were still being produced, with or without a Xuande mark. See the two vases dated to the 16th century included in the exhibition, Ming Blue and White, Philadelphia, 1949, nos. 120 and 12l. The first from the collection of Russell Tyson appears not to have had a mark, while no. 121, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has a Xuande mark.