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Lot Essay
This stem bowl is finely potted with rounded sides and a flared rim supported on a hollow, splayed stem foot, painted in vivid blue tones with a kui dragon and a lotus spray issuing from its mouth in the central medallion, the exterior decorated with two similar dragons in mutual pursuit, accompanied by a winged horse, all above a ruyi border.
These dominating kui dragons are developed from the Indian Makara, which were adopted as motifs of protectors of gateways and thresholds. As Tibetan Buddhism circulated widely across China during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, such architectural designs were frequently used on religious buildings. An example is the glazed doorway tiles of the pagoda of the Bao’en Temple in Nanjing, constructed based on the orders of the Yongle Emperor, with two dragon-head makaras on either side. The doorway is now preserved in the Nanjing Museum.
Chenghua porcelains decorated with kui dragons are usually ascribed to Buddhist ritualistic use, since the Chenghua Emperor was a devout Buddhist. This decoration reached its perfect refinement during this period, distinguished by its meticulous details and vivid styles.
Compare to a very similar Chenghua stem bowl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, no.28 (fig. 1); another example of the same design from the Palmer Collection is published in Soame Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, no.64A; one is included in Exhibition of Chinese Pottery: Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1992, p.89, no.83; and one from the C.P. Lin Collection, is illustrated in Ming and Qing Chinese Arts, Hong Kong, 2014, p.119, no.32. Compare also a similar Ming example housed in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection number: guci002800N.
These dominating kui dragons are developed from the Indian Makara, which were adopted as motifs of protectors of gateways and thresholds. As Tibetan Buddhism circulated widely across China during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, such architectural designs were frequently used on religious buildings. An example is the glazed doorway tiles of the pagoda of the Bao’en Temple in Nanjing, constructed based on the orders of the Yongle Emperor, with two dragon-head makaras on either side. The doorway is now preserved in the Nanjing Museum.
Chenghua porcelains decorated with kui dragons are usually ascribed to Buddhist ritualistic use, since the Chenghua Emperor was a devout Buddhist. This decoration reached its perfect refinement during this period, distinguished by its meticulous details and vivid styles.
Compare to a very similar Chenghua stem bowl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, no.28 (fig. 1); another example of the same design from the Palmer Collection is published in Soame Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, no.64A; one is included in Exhibition of Chinese Pottery: Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1992, p.89, no.83; and one from the C.P. Lin Collection, is illustrated in Ming and Qing Chinese Arts, Hong Kong, 2014, p.119, no.32. Compare also a similar Ming example housed in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection number: guci002800N.