Description

Chinese porcelain blue and white wall pocket flower vase of fluted satchel form painted on the exterior in a continuous scene with a boy standing beside a giant crab between branches of bamboo, all beneath the moon and a lappet band at the rim, the reverse with a single orchid amongst long leaves, the rim unglazed, the reverse with a metalwork ring and button for hanging.

7 1⁄4 inches, 18.5 cm high.

Tianqi, 1621-1627.

Japanese wood box.

Provenance & Additional Information

  • Formerly in an important Japanese private family collection.
  • Sold by Kippei Art Company, Tokyo, 8th February 2014.
  • Included by Marchant in their exhibition of Kosometsuke & Shonzui, 2024, no. 15, pp. 50/51.
  • Four other similar examples of this design and size appear recorded. One in the MOA Museum of Art, Atami, is illustrated by Senju Sato and Takeshi Mayuyama in Kosometsuke, colour plate 2, and again by the Sekido Museum of Art, Adachi City, Tokyo, in their catalogue of Kosometsuke, 2017, no. 1, p. 64; another is illustrated by Masahiko Kawahara in Ko-sometsuke, Monochrome Section, nos. 138 & 139, p. 37; another, in the Tokyo National Museum, is illustrated in their catalogue of Chinese Ceramics II, no. 470, p. 114, and also in Sometsuke, the Flourishing of Underglaze Blue Porcelain Ware in Asia, 2009, no. 67, p. 75, and again in Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from the Yokogawa Tamisuke Collection, no. 75, p. 95; a further example was included by Christie’s London in their auction of The Peony Pavilion Collection: Chinese Tea Ceramics for Japan (c.1580-1650), 12th June 1989, lot 400, pp. 120/1, where it refers to the example in the Tokyo National Museum.

Condition

  • natural firing spots
Enquire