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Lot Essay
This rare ewer is similar but not identical to the ewer with cover from the Kempe Collection illustrated by B. Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 151, which was later sold at Sotheby's, London, 14 May 2008, lot 119. Another with its original cover illustrated by Mikhail B. Piotrovksi, ed., Treasures of Catherine the Great, London, 2001, pp. 205 and 228, no. 380, in the State Hermitage Museum, is similar in shape and type of decoration to both the present and Kempe ewers. However, unlike the panels on the present ewer those on the sides of the Kempe and Hermitage ewers are of peach shape. The panels on the three ewers depict various Daoist-themed scenes, as well as suspended ribbon-tied pomegranates suggesting the possibility that they were made by the same workshop. This assumption is strengthened by the fact that the Kempe ewer also featured a similar, though larger, mark on its base.
The shape of all three ewers is related to porcelain examples of the period, several of which are illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pp. 219-21, nos. 9:7-9:10 and p. 247, no. 9:69.
The shape of all three ewers is related to porcelain examples of the period, several of which are illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pp. 219-21, nos. 9:7-9:10 and p. 247, no. 9:69.