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Lot Essay
The shape of this rare archaistic zun-shaped vase was one that found considerable favor with the Ming court, as evidenced by several examples of similar form ranging in date from the Chenghua to the Wanli periods, in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing. It would appear that it is on the Chenghua prototype that the present example is based, given the distinctive plantain leaves on the interior of the neck, which are most commonly found as a decorative design on vases and jars of the Chenghua period.
An almost identical example dated to the Jiajing period, of slightly taller proportions (23.9 cm. high), also with underglaze-blue fish decoration, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures from the Palace Museum - 35 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, no. 92. Another vase of this zun shape and comparable size (20.7 cm.), with a Jiajing mark, but decorated with green dragons and Trigram roundels, is illustrated by Fujio Nakazawa in "Chinese Ceramics in the Toguri Museum of Art", Orientations, April 1988, p. 50. fig. 14.
A similarly-proportioned vase, dated to the 15th century, with a similar arrangement of plantain leaves decorating the interior of the neck, but painted on the exterior with botanical rather than aquatic scenes, was sold at Christie's London, 16 November 1999, lot 206 and again at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2 May 2000, lot 656. Compare, also, a Chenghua example of the same form and with the same plantain leaf band but painted on the exterior with lotus blooms bearing the babao, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2007, lot 523. A zun of the same size and proportions as the present example, but decorated with dragons on a wave ground, dated to the last quarter of the 15th century, is illustrated by A. Joseph, Ming Porcelains - Their Origins and Development, London, 1971, p. 54, no. 42. This vase was subsequently bequested by David Berg, Esq., to the Harvard Art Museums, and is currently dated 15th-16th century, perhaps Chenghua period (1465-1487). (Fig. 1)
An almost identical example dated to the Jiajing period, of slightly taller proportions (23.9 cm. high), also with underglaze-blue fish decoration, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures from the Palace Museum - 35 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, no. 92. Another vase of this zun shape and comparable size (20.7 cm.), with a Jiajing mark, but decorated with green dragons and Trigram roundels, is illustrated by Fujio Nakazawa in "Chinese Ceramics in the Toguri Museum of Art", Orientations, April 1988, p. 50. fig. 14.
A similarly-proportioned vase, dated to the 15th century, with a similar arrangement of plantain leaves decorating the interior of the neck, but painted on the exterior with botanical rather than aquatic scenes, was sold at Christie's London, 16 November 1999, lot 206 and again at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2 May 2000, lot 656. Compare, also, a Chenghua example of the same form and with the same plantain leaf band but painted on the exterior with lotus blooms bearing the babao, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2007, lot 523. A zun of the same size and proportions as the present example, but decorated with dragons on a wave ground, dated to the last quarter of the 15th century, is illustrated by A. Joseph, Ming Porcelains - Their Origins and Development, London, 1971, p. 54, no. 42. This vase was subsequently bequested by David Berg, Esq., to the Harvard Art Museums, and is currently dated 15th-16th century, perhaps Chenghua period (1465-1487). (Fig. 1)