Lot Essay
It is unusual to find this type of guan with such a complete gathering of Daoist immortals. Compare, however, the Chenghua guan illustrated by Geng Baochang, Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding (Study of Ming and Qing Porcelain), Hong Kong, 1993, p. 89, fig. 152, which is also painted with the Daoist immortals between plantain lappets, but without the line borders
Refer, also, to Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, p. 169, col. pls. 159 and 160, where two fifteenth century guan, painted with immortals, but with different borders from the present lot, are illustrated. See, also, op. cit., pp. 231-232, where various guan, with differing central scenes, borders and painting styles are compared. The scenes depicted, apart from gatherings of immortals, include scenes of chess-playing and reading, and scenes from History of the Three Kingdoms
Borders of triangular plantain leaves with ridged edges are often found on Chenghua period wares. Compare a Chenghua meiping from the collections of Robert C. Bruce and H.R.N. Norton, illustrated in the O.C.S. Exhibition of Ming Blue and White Porcelain, London, 1946, Catalogue, no. 97 and by Adrian M. Joseph, Ming Porcelains, Their Origins and Development, London, 1971, no. 39, along with a companion vase. Earlier porcelain examples with this type of leaf border exist. Cf. a Xuande-marked guan in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, (Part I), Hong Kong, 1963, no. 2; and on a Xuande-marked vase, ibid., no. 4
Refer, also, to Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, p. 169, col. pls. 159 and 160, where two fifteenth century guan, painted with immortals, but with different borders from the present lot, are illustrated. See, also, op. cit., pp. 231-232, where various guan, with differing central scenes, borders and painting styles are compared. The scenes depicted, apart from gatherings of immortals, include scenes of chess-playing and reading, and scenes from History of the Three Kingdoms
Borders of triangular plantain leaves with ridged edges are often found on Chenghua period wares. Compare a Chenghua meiping from the collections of Robert C. Bruce and H.R.N. Norton, illustrated in the O.C.S. Exhibition of Ming Blue and White Porcelain, London, 1946, Catalogue, no. 97 and by Adrian M. Joseph, Ming Porcelains, Their Origins and Development, London, 1971, no. 39, along with a companion vase. Earlier porcelain examples with this type of leaf border exist. Cf. a Xuande-marked guan in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, (Part I), Hong Kong, 1963, no. 2; and on a Xuande-marked vase, ibid., no. 4