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Lot Essay
Yongle period ewers of this form may be found with a great variety of designs; of these, there is one group where fruit is depicted within shaped panels on the sides, in which the present lot is included. Various combinations of fruit within either quatrefoil or cinquefoil panels may be found. One of the less common combinations is the peach and pomegranate, as on the present ewer. It would appear that ewers with these fruit are displayed within cinquefoil panels, and the spouts are decorated with scrolling lotus. This is in contrast to the more frequently found combination of peach and berries, or loquats, which are contained within quatrefoil panels, the spouts bearing classic or tightly scrolling foliage. Another variation to these ewers are the even rarer examples with grapevine panels and scrolling lingzhi on the spout.
Other ewers with a very similar design to the present lot are illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol.I, no.736 for the example now in the Niigata Hoso Museum, Japan; in The Min Chiu Society, Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, 1990, Catalogue no.131, p.292; in Zhongguo Meishu Quanjii, Arts and Crafts, vol.III, pl.69; while another in the Liaoning Provincial Museum is illustrated in Liaoning Sheng Bowuguan, pl.180. Two ewers of this rare design have been sold at Christie's in our New York Rooms, 2 December 1985, lot 234, and in our Hong Kong Rooms, 18 and 19 March 1991, lot 520.
Two excavated ewers of the type with peach and loquat within quatrefoil panels are published. One was excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan and exhibited at The Chang Foundation, Taibei, 1996, Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Catalogue no.59, p.180, where an early Yongle date is suggested in view of the shape of the mouth and the studs at the handle base; the second was unearthed in 1982 from the stratum of the Xuande period and was exhibited at the Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989, Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Catalogue no.80, p.243. Several examples of the peach and loquat design are in Museum collections: in the Ardebil Shrine, Tehran, illustrated by T. Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, vol.III, no.A.78, p.156; in Tokyo, see Chinese Ceramics, The Idemitsu Collection, pl.629; and in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, pl.42.
Other ewers with a very similar design to the present lot are illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol.I, no.736 for the example now in the Niigata Hoso Museum, Japan; in The Min Chiu Society, Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, 1990, Catalogue no.131, p.292; in Zhongguo Meishu Quanjii, Arts and Crafts, vol.III, pl.69; while another in the Liaoning Provincial Museum is illustrated in Liaoning Sheng Bowuguan, pl.180. Two ewers of this rare design have been sold at Christie's in our New York Rooms, 2 December 1985, lot 234, and in our Hong Kong Rooms, 18 and 19 March 1991, lot 520.
Two excavated ewers of the type with peach and loquat within quatrefoil panels are published. One was excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan and exhibited at The Chang Foundation, Taibei, 1996, Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Catalogue no.59, p.180, where an early Yongle date is suggested in view of the shape of the mouth and the studs at the handle base; the second was unearthed in 1982 from the stratum of the Xuande period and was exhibited at the Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989, Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Catalogue no.80, p.243. Several examples of the peach and loquat design are in Museum collections: in the Ardebil Shrine, Tehran, illustrated by T. Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, vol.III, no.A.78, p.156; in Tokyo, see Chinese Ceramics, The Idemitsu Collection, pl.629; and in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, pl.42.