R1050
Description
A Chinese porcelain blue and white ewer in the form of a frog, the body moulded and the skin stippled on a blue washed ground with prunus flower-heads, the head of the frog with bulbous eyes and cylindrical mouth forming the spout, the back with an open aperture and gently flaring rim, between the upright loop handle decorated with flower heads and leaves, the flat base unglazed.
Wanli, 1573-1619
6 3⁄4 inches, 17.2 cm high; 6 1⁄4 inches, 15.9 cm long.
Condition
Overall excellent condition without any chips, cracks or restoration, just with minor original firing spots and minor fritting to the rim and wear as expected.
Provenance & Additional Information
- Sold by Dinastia, rua da Escola Politécnica, 183, Lisbon (with label).
- Formerly in the Morpurgo family collection, Amsterdam.
- Sold by Sotheby’s London in their online auction of Chinese Works of Art from the Morpurgo Collection, 8th November 2018, lot 10.
- Included by Stuart Marchant in Marchant – One Hundred Years, Volume II: 2001-2025, p. 405, illustration no. 1830, p. 406.
- A similar model and the only other one recorded together with its handle (handle crack) was exhibited at the Hong Kong Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition of Southeast Asian and Chinese Trade Pottery, 1979, catalogue no. 118; then sold by Sotheby’s London in their auction of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 11th December 1979, lot no. 276, pp. 176/7, where it was purchased by the Idemitsu Museum of Art, and is published in their book of Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Museum Collection, Tokyo, Japan, no. 829.
- Another with the handle missing replaced with metalwork was sold by Christie’s London in their auction of The Peony Pavilion Collection, 12th June 1989, lot no. 396, pp. 116/7.
Similar Items
44. M4404
£14,500Chinese porcelain blue and white deep saucer dish of shonzui style with fluted body, hariki petal-shape needle-point rim, painted on a blue ground with two phoenix birds, one standing beside a tree with peony blossom, rockwork, fruiting lingzhi and three precious objects, the other phoenix behind the rock looking back at its mate, encircled by six ruyi-head lappets of aster, camellia and magnolia, all beneath a brown-dressed rim, the underside with a continuous branch of morning glory flowers and buds, the base with a six-character mark of Chenghua within a double ring.
9 inches, 22.9 cm diameter.
Chongzhen, 1628-1644.
M5397
£9,800A Chinese porcelain wucai cylindrical charcoal burner, hire, painted in a continuous scene, with a seated scholar holding a wine cup in his left hand, whilst resting his right hand on a book, beside wine jars and kang table with a ewer, the reverse with his attendant bringing him a goose, amongst bamboo, plantain, rockwork, fencing and foliage, the enamels painted in bright tones of turquoise, yellow, green and aubergine, heightened in iron-red, all beneath a band of double keyfrets in underglaze blue dispersed between flowering branches and precious objects, and beneath a brown-dressed rim, most of the interior unglaze, all on a short foot rim, the underside with a four character mark, tian xia tai ping, "peace and prosperity under heaven", within a double square.
10.8 cmx 8.3cm
Tianqi/Chongzhen, circa 1630.
M4472
£3,850Chinese porcelain blue and white kosometsuke deep plate with everted rim, painted in the centre in vivid blue tones with a fisherman standing at the stern with the rectangular sail open, with rock work in the foreground and a two-tiered pagoda in the distance beneath the moon, with an unusual lappet border in the form of a flower, the underside with sprays of branches.
8 3/16 inches, 20.8 cm diameter.
Tianqi, 1620-27.
