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Lot Essay
The name ‘Sozaemon Nishimura’ has been inherited by the heads of the Nishimura Family through generations. The Nishimura Family has been running a workshop making dyed textile works in Kyoto since 1555, known as ‘Chigiriya’. The products from this workshop have been highly sought after and treasured by Imperial members, aristocrats and temple members in Japan.
It is known that the firing of even copper-red glazes came to maturity during the Xuande period. A wide range of Xuande copper-red glazed vessels were produced in different shapes but only a few successful examples remain. Not until the Kangxi period, did copper-red glazed vessels regain their popularity. This three-cloud anhua pattern is a revival of the Yuan prototype which is included in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, plate 3, p. 4. A similar dish (PDF, A.509), with an apocryphal Xuande mark in underglaze blue within a double circle but without the anhua pattern in the centre, is in the collection of the Percival David Foundation and illustrated in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Ch’ing Monochrome in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1973, plate no. A510, p. 30. Another copper-red glazed monk’s cap ewer, with underglaze blue Xuande apocryphal mark, is in the Beijing Palace Museum and is included in the The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, plate 22, p. 25.
A copper-red glazed dish, similar to the present one but with flared rim and an incised apocryphal reign mark on the base, illustrated in R.L. Hobson and A.L. Hetherington, The Art of the Chinese Potter, London, 1923, colour plate. 108, fig. 2.
It is known that the firing of even copper-red glazes came to maturity during the Xuande period. A wide range of Xuande copper-red glazed vessels were produced in different shapes but only a few successful examples remain. Not until the Kangxi period, did copper-red glazed vessels regain their popularity. This three-cloud anhua pattern is a revival of the Yuan prototype which is included in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, plate 3, p. 4. A similar dish (PDF, A.509), with an apocryphal Xuande mark in underglaze blue within a double circle but without the anhua pattern in the centre, is in the collection of the Percival David Foundation and illustrated in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Ch’ing Monochrome in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1973, plate no. A510, p. 30. Another copper-red glazed monk’s cap ewer, with underglaze blue Xuande apocryphal mark, is in the Beijing Palace Museum and is included in the The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, plate 22, p. 25.
A copper-red glazed dish, similar to the present one but with flared rim and an incised apocryphal reign mark on the base, illustrated in R.L. Hobson and A.L. Hetherington, The Art of the Chinese Potter, London, 1923, colour plate. 108, fig. 2.