SHUNZHI PERIOD, CIRCA 1650

According to Sir Michael Butler, the lavender-blue-tone glaze seen on the present lot was not used before the Shunzhi period, and was rare even at that time and into the early Kangxi period. (Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Alexandria, VA, 2002, p. 156). Very few examples of this type have survived. One (without a cover) is in the Butler Family Collection, illustrated ibid., p. 157, no. 41. Another is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, gift of Mrs. Walter Bentley, inv. no. c.217-1915. (S. Marchant & Son, Recent Acquisitions, London, 2003, p. 42). The shape is more typically found decorated in the wucai palette.