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Lot Essay
Previously sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 14 November 1989, lot 144.
Waterpots of this form are known as Taibai zun, after the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai who is often depicted leaning against a large wine jar of similar form. They are also known as qizhao zun because their shape resembles that of a chicken coop. Such waterpots belong to the group of eight peachbloom wares for the scholar's desk, of which a complete set is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237. Another complete set of eight from the Jingguantang Collection, was sold in these Rooms, 3 November 1996, lot 557.
Similar waterpots can be found in many important museum collections, for example, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 142, pl. 125; in the Percival David Foundation, London, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares, London, 1989, no. 580; and another included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T. Y. Chao Family Foundation, 1976, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 52.
Waterpots of this form are known as Taibai zun, after the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai who is often depicted leaning against a large wine jar of similar form. They are also known as qizhao zun because their shape resembles that of a chicken coop. Such waterpots belong to the group of eight peachbloom wares for the scholar's desk, of which a complete set is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237. Another complete set of eight from the Jingguantang Collection, was sold in these Rooms, 3 November 1996, lot 557.
Similar waterpots can be found in many important museum collections, for example, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 142, pl. 125; in the Percival David Foundation, London, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares, London, 1989, no. 580; and another included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T. Y. Chao Family Foundation, 1976, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 52.