.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Yongle period ewers of this form may be found with a variety of designs. Of these, there is a group where fruit is depicted within shaped panels on the sides, in which the present lot is included. Various combination of fruit either within quatrefoil or cinquefoil panels may be found.
Similar examples of ewers with peach and loquat within quatrefoil panels, as on the present lot, have been published. Two excavated examples include one found at Dongmentou, Zhushan, and exhibited at the Chang Foundation, Taibei, 1996, Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 59, where an early Yongle date is suggested in view of the shape of the mouth and the studs at the handle base; and the second, excavated from the Xuande strata, was included in the Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989, Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 80. Similar ewers from museums are known: one from the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 42; one in the Ardebil Shrine, Tehran, is illustrated by T. Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, vol. III, no. A.78, p. 156; one illustrated in Chinese Ceramics, The Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, pl. 629; one illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 64; and another from the Chang Foundation, Taibei, illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing, pl. 81. Cf. also similar ewers that have been sold at auction, two in our London Rooms, 5 July 1983, lot 269; and another 13 November 2001, lot 119.
There are also several closely related ewers decorated with cinquefoil medallions enclosing peach and pomegranate, such as the one illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, no. 736; one included in the Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, 1990, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 131; and another illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. III, pl. 69. Ewers of this design have also been sold at auction, one in these Rooms, 18 March 1991, lot 520; and another in our London Rooms, 16 November 1998, lot 56.
Similar examples of ewers with peach and loquat within quatrefoil panels, as on the present lot, have been published. Two excavated examples include one found at Dongmentou, Zhushan, and exhibited at the Chang Foundation, Taibei, 1996, Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 59, where an early Yongle date is suggested in view of the shape of the mouth and the studs at the handle base; and the second, excavated from the Xuande strata, was included in the Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989, Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 80. Similar ewers from museums are known: one from the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 42; one in the Ardebil Shrine, Tehran, is illustrated by T. Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, vol. III, no. A.78, p. 156; one illustrated in Chinese Ceramics, The Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, pl. 629; one illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 64; and another from the Chang Foundation, Taibei, illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing, pl. 81. Cf. also similar ewers that have been sold at auction, two in our London Rooms, 5 July 1983, lot 269; and another 13 November 2001, lot 119.
There are also several closely related ewers decorated with cinquefoil medallions enclosing peach and pomegranate, such as the one illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, no. 736; one included in the Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, 1990, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 131; and another illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. III, pl. 69. Ewers of this design have also been sold at auction, one in these Rooms, 18 March 1991, lot 520; and another in our London Rooms, 16 November 1998, lot 56.