拍品 19
19
A RARE EARLY MING BLUE AND WHITE STEMCUP
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A RARE EARLY MING BLUE AND WHITE STEMCUP

XUANDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1426-35)

细节
A RARE EARLY MING BLUE AND WHITE STEMCUP
Xuande six-character mark and of the period (1426-35)
The cup with rounded sides rising to a slightly everted rim, dramatically painted on the exterior with mythical winged elephants gamboling amidst cloud scrolls above turbulent swirling waves around the base and on the stem foot, the interior undecorated except for double lines at the mouth rim, repeated on the medallion confining the reign mark, the stem sealed, supported on the flat unglazed foot, rim restored
3½ in. (8.8 cm.) high
注意事项
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

拍品专文

The flying elephant above turbulent sea motif is also found on a number of excavated wares and examples that have been included in the Chang Foundation exhibition, Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1998, such as a blue and white cricket jar (no. 58-1), and on the medallion of a blue and white dish (no. 76). Although many of the sea creatures have their origins in ancient texts such as the Shanhai Jing, their popular appearance as decorative motifs may also have been influenced by adventure stories from the seven maritime expeditions undertaken between 1406-33 by the famous eunuch-admiral, Zheng He.

Compare an almost identical stemcup in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, included in the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, 1998, no. 78; and another in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, the World's Great Collections, Kodansha Series, vol. 6, 1982, fig. 96.