MING DYNASTY, MID 17TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE WUCAI SQUARE-SECTION JARDINIÈRE
MING DYNASTY, MID 17TH CENTURY
The sides are decorated with flowering branches of peach, magnolia, prunus and bamboo that emerge next to rocks and birds. The base is inscribed with a Xuande four-character mark.
5 3/4 in. (14.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Clark Collection, United Kingdom, no. 248
Sold at Sotheby’s London, 24 March 1953, lot 61
John Sparks, London, 27 March 1953
The Reginald and Lena Palmer Collection, no. 668

Literature

The Royal Academy of Arts, International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, 1935, pp. 129 & 151, cat. no. 1560
Bonham’s, Reginald and Lena Palmer, Their Collection and The Oriental Ceramic Society, 1921-1970, London, 2021, pp. 40-41, no. 10

Exhibited

London, The Royal Academy of Arts, International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 28 November 1935- 7 March 1936, ser. nos. 2555
London, The Exhibition of Chinese Art, 8 – 28 January 1938, as recorded in the RHRP ledger
London, The Oriental Ceramic Society, Polychrome Porcelain of the Ming and Manchu Dynasties, 1950, no. 70, as recorded in the RHRP ledger and according label
Bonham’s London, Reginald and Lena Palmer, Their Collection and The Oriental Ceramic Society, 1921-1970: A Loan Exhibition, 25 October – 2 November 2021

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

A similar vessel also bearing an apocryphal Xuande four-character mark, is in the collection of Sir Percival David (PDF 705). The David piece was included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, 1935-1936, exhibit no. 1560, and illustrated by R. Feng in Ming Colours – Polychrome Porcelain from Jingdezhen, London, 2006, pp. 48-49, no. 15.

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