Lot Essay
It is extremely rare to find vases of this form in pristine condition - nearly all examples of this shape have been cut down at the neck. In the last two decades only two perfect vases of this form have been offered at auction; the present lot and the other, with a chrysanthemum scroll from the T. Y. Chao Collection sold in Hong Kong, 19 May 1987, lot 225.
The success of the copper-red and the consistency of the colour of this vase are very remarkable features compared to the variation of much weaker colour found on most other examples. These vary from a pale ghostly grey to a dark liver brown colour. The outlines of designs are frequently indistinct on a large number of vessels. The overall impression of Hongwu wares is of highly distinctive and well potted forms weakened by poor colour and pallid designs but this is immediately overturned when a successful example is encountered, such as the present vase.
Nigel Wood in his paper, "The Evolution of the Chinese Copper Red" published in the monograph Chinese Copper Red Wares edited by Rosemary E. Scott, analyses the problems of 14th Century copper-red in relation to the interaction with the yingqing type glaze found on Yuan wares which "tended to encourage diffusion of the copper, making the definition rather poor". During the Hongwu period, the use of the "stiffer 'underglaze-blue' type of porcelain glaze" improved definition, "but fine copper-red colours were harder to achieve, and only rare examples have good red colouration throughout their painted decoration". It is also significant that at Jingdezhen, Liu Xinyuan found only two examples of underglaze-copper-red examples at the Yuan Dynasty site of Hutian, see Tichane, Ching-te-chen - Views of a Porcelain City, pp. 395-416 which may be an indication of the difficulty of working with copper-red in the first half of the 14th century.
Among the Hongwu wares excavated at Jingdezhen most recently in 1994, four very rare underglaze-copper-red bowls of large size (32-38 cm. in diameter) were included in the exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, The Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, Catalogue, nos 7-10. Two of these are decorated with lotus scrolls (one in reserve on a red ground), the other two with peony scrolls. It is particularly noteworthy that none of these were successful in terms of colour. Even among the numbers of Hongwu underglaze-copper-red cupstands, dishes (see fig. 12) and bowls sold at auction over the last two decades, examples of good colour, let alone condition, are exceedingly rare.
In potting, the Hongwu pear-shaped vases vary in thickness with a heavier body at the base and central section and thinning considerably around the neck. This may explain the vulnerability of the neck area in most examples where the vases have been cut down after suffering damage or breaks, always in or around that section.
Only two other damaged vases of this identical pattern are known - one was included in the China Institute of America Exhibition of Chinese Art from the Newark Museum, New York, 1980, Catalogue, no. 20; the other sold in Hong Kong, 13 November 1990, lot 126. A very rare ewer of this pattern, but with key-fret and floral scroll bands below the plantain at the neck is in the Brooklyn Museum, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 13, fig. 147.
Other related examples are identical to the present lot but have different borders at the neck. Examples featuring key-fret bands at the neck with all other remaining bands of identical design include an example in the Toyko National Museum, illustrated in Toji Taikei (New Heibonsha Series), Vol. 41, no. 77, and again in Mayuyama Seventy Years, fig. 721 with another similar example in fig. 724.
Another configuration at the neck features a border of key-fret above a classic scroll, cf. an example illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 13, pl. 214; another from the Garner Collection was included in the Exhibition of Chinese Art, Arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, Catalogue, no. 598; cf. also Mayuyama Seventy Years, fig. 723 for another similar vase; two other examples are decorated with the classic scroll in white on a red ground, one sold in these Rooms, 29 September 1992, lot 468 and the other sold in our London Rooms, 16 December 1996, lot 115. (see fig. 13)
Another group of vases are decorated with main bands of lotus scroll, including one illustrated by Regina Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. II, pl. 646; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing was included in the exhibition Treasures from the Palace Museum, Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1988, Catalogue, no. 25; a third example is illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, 1991, pl. 59 with a collar of pendent trefoils lappets (see fig. 14, also the introduction, fig. 8). A famous ewer of this form with similar decoration is in the Percival David Foundation (fig. 15), also illustrated by Rosemary Scott, Percival Foundation of Chinese Art, pl. 71 and by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, La Porcelaine Ming, pl. 43
Those with chrysanthemum scroll include the T. Y. Chao example mentioned above; another in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, is published in The Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain, Hung Wu Ware, pl. 3. A ewer featuring the chrysanthemum below a cloud collar at the shoulder is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 13, pl. 212. A very rare blue and white Hongwu ewer of related design was sold in Hong Kong, 30 April 1991, lot 10.
Among the group of well known underglaze red ewers are those decorated with freely painted garden scenes with plantain, including the example formerly in the Palmer Collection, now in the Idemitsu Art Gallery, Tokyo, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 13, pl. 79; the other formerly in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Manheim was included in the exhibition, Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels, Gilt Bronzes and Early Ceramics, Eskenazi, 1973, Catalogue, no. 63, now in the Matsuoka Museum of Art - this is painted with plantain in a fenced garden. Both these examples are of strong and vivid colour.
Sir John Addis discusses the yuhuchun bottle and related shaped ewers in his paper "A Group of Underglaze Red", T.O.C.S., Vol. 31, 1957-1959, pp. 15-48. He notes that nearly all vessels of this shape in the Hongwu period are decorated with a broad band of plantain leaves around the neck above two formal borders of varied designs. The bases of the vessels discussed are all encircled by lotus petal borders. The bodies are usually painted with floral scrolls or are freely painted. The peony is the most popular of the main scroll designs. Other examples employ chrysanthemum scrolls or lotus blooms. In freely painted examples, the 'Three Friends of Winter', pine, bamboo and prunus are a popular option frequently used in combination with the plantain. A fine example of this design in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustratd in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Ceramics, vol. 3, pl. 37. The decoration around the footring areas on all examples almost always feature the classic scroll.
The development of the floral scroll in the transition from the Yuan Dynasty to the early Ming reign of Hongwu may be seen in comparing the present vase to the Yuan blue and white guan from the Jingguantang Collection to be sold on 5 November 1997, lot 896 (see fig. 16). The Yuan branches arch around the peony blooms more in an encircling motion, whereas on the Hongwu vase, both the full-faced blooms are encircled by branches, but the other two flowers seen in profile have bow-shaped branches arching above them (see fig. 17). The leaves on Hongwu vases and large barbed rim dishes are outlined and washed; on Yuan blue and white examples, the leaves are often hatched with veins, as in the example from the Jingguantang Collection.
Similarly, the transformation of the yuhuchun from the slender formed taller necked Yuan shape to the much stronger silhouette of the Hongwu period underlies the preference for greater boldness in form, with a wider body tapering to a shorter and slightly wider neck. This boldness of approach is seconded by the decorative style which retain the elements of the Yuan style, but are more tightly organised in the overall format.
The success of the copper-red and the consistency of the colour of this vase are very remarkable features compared to the variation of much weaker colour found on most other examples. These vary from a pale ghostly grey to a dark liver brown colour. The outlines of designs are frequently indistinct on a large number of vessels. The overall impression of Hongwu wares is of highly distinctive and well potted forms weakened by poor colour and pallid designs but this is immediately overturned when a successful example is encountered, such as the present vase.
Nigel Wood in his paper, "The Evolution of the Chinese Copper Red" published in the monograph Chinese Copper Red Wares edited by Rosemary E. Scott, analyses the problems of 14th Century copper-red in relation to the interaction with the yingqing type glaze found on Yuan wares which "tended to encourage diffusion of the copper, making the definition rather poor". During the Hongwu period, the use of the "stiffer 'underglaze-blue' type of porcelain glaze" improved definition, "but fine copper-red colours were harder to achieve, and only rare examples have good red colouration throughout their painted decoration". It is also significant that at Jingdezhen, Liu Xinyuan found only two examples of underglaze-copper-red examples at the Yuan Dynasty site of Hutian, see Tichane, Ching-te-chen - Views of a Porcelain City, pp. 395-416 which may be an indication of the difficulty of working with copper-red in the first half of the 14th century.
Among the Hongwu wares excavated at Jingdezhen most recently in 1994, four very rare underglaze-copper-red bowls of large size (32-38 cm. in diameter) were included in the exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, The Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, Catalogue, nos 7-10. Two of these are decorated with lotus scrolls (one in reserve on a red ground), the other two with peony scrolls. It is particularly noteworthy that none of these were successful in terms of colour. Even among the numbers of Hongwu underglaze-copper-red cupstands, dishes (see fig. 12) and bowls sold at auction over the last two decades, examples of good colour, let alone condition, are exceedingly rare.
In potting, the Hongwu pear-shaped vases vary in thickness with a heavier body at the base and central section and thinning considerably around the neck. This may explain the vulnerability of the neck area in most examples where the vases have been cut down after suffering damage or breaks, always in or around that section.
Only two other damaged vases of this identical pattern are known - one was included in the China Institute of America Exhibition of Chinese Art from the Newark Museum, New York, 1980, Catalogue, no. 20; the other sold in Hong Kong, 13 November 1990, lot 126. A very rare ewer of this pattern, but with key-fret and floral scroll bands below the plantain at the neck is in the Brooklyn Museum, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 13, fig. 147.
Other related examples are identical to the present lot but have different borders at the neck. Examples featuring key-fret bands at the neck with all other remaining bands of identical design include an example in the Toyko National Museum, illustrated in Toji Taikei (New Heibonsha Series), Vol. 41, no. 77, and again in Mayuyama Seventy Years, fig. 721 with another similar example in fig. 724.
Another configuration at the neck features a border of key-fret above a classic scroll, cf. an example illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 13, pl. 214; another from the Garner Collection was included in the Exhibition of Chinese Art, Arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, Catalogue, no. 598; cf. also Mayuyama Seventy Years, fig. 723 for another similar vase; two other examples are decorated with the classic scroll in white on a red ground, one sold in these Rooms, 29 September 1992, lot 468 and the other sold in our London Rooms, 16 December 1996, lot 115. (see fig. 13)
Another group of vases are decorated with main bands of lotus scroll, including one illustrated by Regina Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. II, pl. 646; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing was included in the exhibition Treasures from the Palace Museum, Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1988, Catalogue, no. 25; a third example is illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, 1991, pl. 59 with a collar of pendent trefoils lappets (see fig. 14, also the introduction, fig. 8). A famous ewer of this form with similar decoration is in the Percival David Foundation (fig. 15), also illustrated by Rosemary Scott, Percival Foundation of Chinese Art, pl. 71 and by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, La Porcelaine Ming, pl. 43
Those with chrysanthemum scroll include the T. Y. Chao example mentioned above; another in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, is published in The Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain, Hung Wu Ware, pl. 3. A ewer featuring the chrysanthemum below a cloud collar at the shoulder is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 13, pl. 212. A very rare blue and white Hongwu ewer of related design was sold in Hong Kong, 30 April 1991, lot 10.
Among the group of well known underglaze red ewers are those decorated with freely painted garden scenes with plantain, including the example formerly in the Palmer Collection, now in the Idemitsu Art Gallery, Tokyo, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 13, pl. 79; the other formerly in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Manheim was included in the exhibition, Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels, Gilt Bronzes and Early Ceramics, Eskenazi, 1973, Catalogue, no. 63, now in the Matsuoka Museum of Art - this is painted with plantain in a fenced garden. Both these examples are of strong and vivid colour.
Sir John Addis discusses the yuhuchun bottle and related shaped ewers in his paper "A Group of Underglaze Red", T.O.C.S., Vol. 31, 1957-1959, pp. 15-48. He notes that nearly all vessels of this shape in the Hongwu period are decorated with a broad band of plantain leaves around the neck above two formal borders of varied designs. The bases of the vessels discussed are all encircled by lotus petal borders. The bodies are usually painted with floral scrolls or are freely painted. The peony is the most popular of the main scroll designs. Other examples employ chrysanthemum scrolls or lotus blooms. In freely painted examples, the 'Three Friends of Winter', pine, bamboo and prunus are a popular option frequently used in combination with the plantain. A fine example of this design in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustratd in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Ceramics, vol. 3, pl. 37. The decoration around the footring areas on all examples almost always feature the classic scroll.
The development of the floral scroll in the transition from the Yuan Dynasty to the early Ming reign of Hongwu may be seen in comparing the present vase to the Yuan blue and white guan from the Jingguantang Collection to be sold on 5 November 1997, lot 896 (see fig. 16). The Yuan branches arch around the peony blooms more in an encircling motion, whereas on the Hongwu vase, both the full-faced blooms are encircled by branches, but the other two flowers seen in profile have bow-shaped branches arching above them (see fig. 17). The leaves on Hongwu vases and large barbed rim dishes are outlined and washed; on Yuan blue and white examples, the leaves are often hatched with veins, as in the example from the Jingguantang Collection.
Similarly, the transformation of the yuhuchun from the slender formed taller necked Yuan shape to the much stronger silhouette of the Hongwu period underlies the preference for greater boldness in form, with a wider body tapering to a shorter and slightly wider neck. This boldness of approach is seconded by the decorative style which retain the elements of the Yuan style, but are more tightly organised in the overall format.