Lot Essay
It is rare to find a Yuan ewer painted with dragons. Similar dragon motif is more often found on stem bowls and vases of the Yuan dynasty, see for example, a stem bowl in the Shanghai Museum, and a yuhuchunping in the Qingzhou Museum, included in the exhibition Splendors in Smalt: Art of Yuan Blue-and white Porcelain, Shanghai, 2012, no. 21 and no. 66, respectively.
For Yuan ewers of this form but painted with a different design, see an example painted with lotus pond illustrated in Mitsugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, Topkapi and Ardebil, Hong Kong, 1981, vol. I, p. 37 top; and another painted with floral sprays, sold at Sotheby’s London, 11 May 2011, lot 138.
For Yuan ewers of this form but painted with a different design, see an example painted with lotus pond illustrated in Mitsugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, Topkapi and Ardebil, Hong Kong, 1981, vol. I, p. 37 top; and another painted with floral sprays, sold at Sotheby’s London, 11 May 2011, lot 138.