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Lot Essay
The companion to the present vase was sold at Christie's, London, 18 October 1971, lot 70, in a sale of the collection formed by the late Alfred Morrison, Esq., sold by order of the Rt. Hon. The Lord of Margadale of Islay, T.D., removed from Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire, and later sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, Important Chinese Ceramics, Sold for the Benefit of the J.T. Tai Foundation, 21 May 1985, lot 35.
Besides the companion piece cited above, no other vase of this size and pattern appears to be published. A larger vase of this form and of similar proportions and also decorated with bats and floral scrolls, but against a red sgraffito ground, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramis, New York, 1989 ed., p. 269, no. 278. This vase displays the same type of formal arrangements of motifs seen on the present example, especially in the decorative borders around the neck and foot.
Besides the companion piece cited above, no other vase of this size and pattern appears to be published. A larger vase of this form and of similar proportions and also decorated with bats and floral scrolls, but against a red sgraffito ground, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramis, New York, 1989 ed., p. 269, no. 278. This vase displays the same type of formal arrangements of motifs seen on the present example, especially in the decorative borders around the neck and foot.