13. M2388

£12,500

Description

Chinese Blanc de Chine vase of archaic gu form, the central bulge incised with lotus flowerheads on a single continuous scrolling branch with stylised leaves, between single ribs, covered in a rich and even cream glaze extending to the interior and recessed base.

8 1⁄2 inches, 21.5 cm high.

Dehua, Fujian Province.

Late Ming dynasty, circa 1630.

Provenance & Additional Information

  • From an important Hong Kong family collection, by direct descent from the grandfather.
  • A similar gu with double rings bordering the bulge, is illustrated by Wang Yamin and Huang Weiwen in Dehua Wares Collected by the Palace Museum I, no. 94, pp. 124/5, another from the Koger Collection, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, The State Art Museum of Florida, is illustrated by John Ayers in Blanc de Chine, Divine Images in Porcelain, no. 12, p. 61, where the author mentions “a gu vase broadly comparable to this one was found in the tomb of the Wanli emperor (d. 1619)”, it is also mentioned by James Watt in the introduction to An Exhibition of Te Hua Porcelain, Art Gallery, Institute of Chinese Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, January-June 1975.
  • A similar example is illustrated by Colin Sheaf and Richard Kilburn in The Hatcher Porcelain Cargos, The Complete Record, pl. 113, p. 73, which was salvaged from a vessel sunk in the South China Sea between 1643 and 1644, dated as such because two of the salvaged blue and white oviform covered jars were inscribed with a cyclical date.
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