A RARE EARLY MING UNDERGLAZE-BLUE AND IRON-RED STEMCUP

MING POLYCHROMES THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

细节

A RARE EARLY MING UNDERGLAZE-BLUE AND IRON-RED STEMCUP
ENCIRCLED XUANDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN THE INTERIOR AND OF THE PERIOD

The small cup finely potted with rounded sides rising to an everted rim, the stem gently flaring at the splayed foot, painted in characteristic blue tone on the exterior with a wide band of lingzhi, the iron-red ruyi-heads growing on a blue vine with curling tendrils, between a diaper-border at the rim and stiff lappets at the base, the foot with a further band of classic scroll, the interior with a central medallion containing the nianhao surrounded by a geometric band of diamonds and angular C-curls, an iron-red frieze of leafy curled stems, and an overlapping triangle band at the rim, each divided by iron-red single line borders, the base unglazed exposing the fine white porcelain (rim restored)--3¾in. (9.5cm.) diam.

拍品专文

Xuande-marked stemcups of this design are rare, however, an identical stemcup in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book 1, pl. 3, 3, a-b; and again in Special Exhibition of Xuande Porcelain, 1980, Catalogue, no 133.

An unfinished stemcup of this design, painted in underglaze-blue but lacking iron-red enamel, was included in the Special Exhibition Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Catalogue, 1989, no. 50.

A Xuande-marked blue and white bowl of this design in the National Palace Museum is illustrated in op. cit., no. 41