A similar stemcup from the Junkunc Collection was sold in these Rooms, 25 October 1993; another from the collection of Mrs. Otto Harriman was exhibited at the Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 'The Ceramic Art of China', 1971, Catalogue, no. 136, pl. 90 and at the Exhibition of Chinese Art in Venice, 1954, Catalogue, no. 602; a third from the British Museum, London, is illustrated by Joseph in Ming Porcelains, Their Origin and Development, p. 12, fig. 1, where two closely related cups are also illustrated, nos. 1-2.

Two other related examples with flower medallions were included in the exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1949, Catalogue, nos. 4 and 8. Nos. 5-7 in the same exhibition have the three-clawed dragon around the exterior, but the slip designs within are different. No. 6 was subsequently sold from the Fuller Collection in our London Rooms, 28 June 1965, lot 149.

There has been much discussion as to the correct dating of these wares. Excavations around the precincts of the Hongwu Palace in Nanjing in 1970 uncovered a whole group of related porcelains, including stembowls from the tomb of Wang Xingzu, dated 1371, illustrated by Wang Qingzheng in Underglaze Blue and Red, pl. 31. However, as Addis notes in Chinese Ceramics from Datable Tombs, the tomb also contained three Southern Song Guanyao pieces demonstrating that 'heirloom' pieces were part of the burial.

(US$160,000-240,000)