AN UNUSUAL RETICULATED FAHUA DOUBLE-GOURD VASE

Details

AN UNUSUAL RETICULATED FAHUA DOUBLE-GOURD VASE
MING DYNASTY

Both the lower and upper bulbs pierced and carved with scenes of scholars at various pursuits within landscapes of pine trees and rocks, the scenes divided by clouds, two scholars on the lower bulb seated at a table playing ge and one scholar on the upper bulb carrying a qin, with detached ruyi heads in a band below the waist and detached clouds above, the tapering neck encircled by a band of lappets, all in shades of yellow, pale mauve and purple against a turquoise ground, the interior glazed green 13½in. (34.3cm.) high

Lot Essay

For a very similar example, see Anthony Du Boulay, Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, New Jersey, 1984, p. 177, no. 12. Another similarly decorated vase in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, but with a dark blue ground on the bands of the neck and between the bulbs, is illustrated by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, New York, 1978, p. 137, no. 115