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Lot Essay
This Yuan stem cup is one of three originally in the collection of Stephen Junkunc III. Two have previously been sold at Christies: one in our Hong Kong rooms, 24 October 1993, lot 718, the other in our New York rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 159. Both of these stem cups were purchased from Yamanaka & Co.
A slightly larger stem cup (height: 11.7 cm) of similar form and with similar decoration to that of the present example is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. The Palace Museum stem cup has an additional plantain leaf band in underglaze blue around the stem, and the dragon design on the interior is described by the authors as having been molded. The stem cup is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 34 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 14, no. 12, where it is dated to the Yuan dynasty.
The somewhat larger stem cup was excavated in 1970 from the tomb of Wang Xingzu dated to the 4th year of Hongwu (AD 1371). The stem cup was described in the original report in Kaogu 1972:4, p. 32 and pl. 6, figs. 1 and 2, as having a carved dragon design on the interior, however, when the same cup was published by Wang Qing-zheng in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, pp. 45 and 236, no. 31, the interior dragon was described as being molded and dated to the late Yuan-early Ming period.
Compare a similar stem cup from the Palmer Collection illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London 1954, pl. 2A and by E. Bluett, 'Chinese Works of Art in English Collections: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. R.H.R. Palmer - I', Apollo, April 1958, pl. 160, fig. VIII(c), later sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 17 January 1989, lot 561, and later in the collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, illustrated by J. Ayers in the Catalogue, 1990, no. 57.
Another very similar example in the A. Brankston Collection was illustrated by S. Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, pl. 3c (iii) and two similar examples from the Collection of Mrs. Otto Harriman and the Collection of Lord Cunliffe were included in the O.C.S. exhibition, Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, 14th to 19th Centuries, London, December 1953 - January 1954, nos. 11 and 12.
Of the similar stem cups published, only one other is noted as having the character yu, 'precious', included in the decoration of the interior. See J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, no. 136.
A slightly larger stem cup (height: 11.7 cm) of similar form and with similar decoration to that of the present example is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. The Palace Museum stem cup has an additional plantain leaf band in underglaze blue around the stem, and the dragon design on the interior is described by the authors as having been molded. The stem cup is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 34 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 14, no. 12, where it is dated to the Yuan dynasty.
The somewhat larger stem cup was excavated in 1970 from the tomb of Wang Xingzu dated to the 4th year of Hongwu (AD 1371). The stem cup was described in the original report in Kaogu 1972:4, p. 32 and pl. 6, figs. 1 and 2, as having a carved dragon design on the interior, however, when the same cup was published by Wang Qing-zheng in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, pp. 45 and 236, no. 31, the interior dragon was described as being molded and dated to the late Yuan-early Ming period.
Compare a similar stem cup from the Palmer Collection illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London 1954, pl. 2A and by E. Bluett, 'Chinese Works of Art in English Collections: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. R.H.R. Palmer - I', Apollo, April 1958, pl. 160, fig. VIII(c), later sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 17 January 1989, lot 561, and later in the collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, illustrated by J. Ayers in the Catalogue, 1990, no. 57.
Another very similar example in the A. Brankston Collection was illustrated by S. Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, pl. 3c (iii) and two similar examples from the Collection of Mrs. Otto Harriman and the Collection of Lord Cunliffe were included in the O.C.S. exhibition, Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, 14th to 19th Centuries, London, December 1953 - January 1954, nos. 11 and 12.
Of the similar stem cups published, only one other is noted as having the character yu, 'precious', included in the decoration of the interior. See J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, no. 136.