Blue & White

Chinese porcelain blue and white bottle vase with rounded body and tall flaring neck, painted with four full-facing dragons amongst stylised flames and clouds, each encircling a flaming pearl in a stylised flowerhead reserve, above a band of crested waves and rock work on a flared foot, the neck with phoenix bird medallions above a band of wan characters and ruyi-heads, beneath a further band of ruyi-heads at the flared rim.

Chinese imperial porcelain blue and white bottle vase, suantou kou ping, with pear-shaped body, everted lipped foot, garlic mouth and upright rim, painted on the body with twelve seasonal blooms borne on a continuous scrolling branch with characteristic leaves including peony, chrysanthemum, camellia, hibiscus and lotus, beneath a ruyi-head band and a blue washed prunus flower head band at the ribbed shoulder, the neck with lappets of branches and leaves beneath the garlic mouth painted with flowerheads and their characteristic leaves beneath a keyfret band at the upright rim. The foot painted with a crested wave and foam band beneath blue ground lappets, painted overall in the classic Ming style with heaped and piled effect.

Chinese imperial porcelain lemon-yellow ground underglaze blue decorated nine peach dish, pan, of slightly conical form with gently flared rim, painted in the centre with two leafy branches bearing nine peaches in early Ming style with heaped and piled effect, all within two double lines in underglaze blue, the underside painted with continuous scrolling branches of entwined morning glory with nine flowerheads amongst large leaves and buds, within double lines in underglaze blue with a further double line on the foot rim.

Chinese imperial porcelain blue and white bottle vase, shang ping, painted in the Ming style with heaped and piled effect, with globular rounded body and four wide relief ribs, tall cylindrical flared neck and slightly splayed foot, painted on the body with six different large flowerheads on a continuous scrolling branch beneath six smaller flowerheads each with its characteristic leaves, including lotus, peony, chrysanthemum and camellia, above a wide band of blue wash ground lappets and beneath bands of ruyi-heads and different flowers on a scrolling branch at the shoulder, the neck with tall leaves above a keyfret band, beneath a further ruyi-head band with a crested wave band beneath the rim, the splayed foot with a scrolling branch.

Chinese imperial porcelain blue and white vase of zun form, painted in the Ming style with heaped and piled effect, the body with two wide bands, the lower register with six different large flowerheads and twelve smaller flowerheads, all on continuous scrolling branches with their characteristic leaves, including peony, lily, rose, poppy, pink, camellia and mallow, beneath a band with six large lotus flowerheads on a continuous scrolling leafy branch with smaller flowerheads, all between six relief ribs above a wide band of swirling crested waves and a further rib above lappets on the splayed foot, all between two high relief taotie animal mask and ring handles, the neck with formal archaic style leaves, beneath a further crested wave band at the rim.

A very fine and rare pair of Chinese imperial porcelain blue and white moonflasks, bian hu, each with ruyi-head terminal handles, flared rim and everted foot, painted on each side with peach-shaped relief panels of five large fruiting peaches on a singular leafy branch between a pair of bats in flight encircled by scrolling branches of lotus and camellia within underglaze blue double lines, the flat sides with a continuous scrolling branch of fruiting lingzhi between pairs of double lines, the neck painted with a band of lotus beneath* ruyi*-heads and a floral band with scrolling leafy branches at the rim, the foot with a continuous band of leaves and branches.

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.

Chinese porcelain celadon ground, underglaze blue and white, and white slip vase, meiping, decorated with The Three Star Gods, Fu Lu Shou, amongst their attendants at various tasks, with a large pine tree, deer, cranes and rock work, the base unglazed with a central recess glazed white.

Chinese imperial porcelain blue and white deep palace bowl evenly potted with gently flared rim, the exterior with five further flowervheads on a scrolling branch, amongst arrow-head leaves, scrolls and foliage all above a band of stylized lotus petals, the interior painted in the well with a lotus flowerhead, amongst arrow-head leaves, scrolling branches and foliage.

A Chinese porcelain blue and white imperial bowl, wan, painted with two five-clawed dragons divided by a large branch of lingzhi fungus supporting a ruyi-head shaped shou and fu characters, amongst stylised flames and clouds and above a band of overlapping petals all between double rings, painted in the well of the interior with a similar dragon medallion.

Chinese porcelain blue and white circular mizusashi, water vessel, with flat rim, painted on the exterior with two blue-ground panels, each of a large flowering peony amongst leaves and branches on a hexagonal diaper ground, between stylised ruyi-head and tassel painted handles, above a wide scroll band and beneath two pairs of double pomegranate and peach reserves on a geometric ground of keyfret and flower heads, the wide flat inverted blue-ground rim with chrysanthemum flower heads on a continuous scrolling branch with leaves, the slightly everted foot with two lines, the base glazed.

Chinese porcelain blue and white moulded ewer in the form of a cat in a seated position with long curved striped upright tail, with hairwork down the spine, upright ears and strap-form handle, the short cylindrical spout issuing from the cat’s mouth, all on an oval short unglazed knife-cut foot rim with unglazed base.

Chinese porcelain blue and white incense burner in the form of a seated Buddhist lion with an openwork ribbon-threaded brocade ball under its front left paw, with upright blue-washed tail, laidback ears and densely speckled body heightened with flames, wearing a bell suspended from a neck collar and with a double gourd on its back bearing da ji, ‘great fortune’ characters, all on a rectangular raised plinth decorated on each panel with a ruyi-head with geometric design of scales and fretwork.

Chinese porcelain blue and white rectangular tea jar with four flat sides painted with the characters, fu gui chang chun, ‘wealth, honour and eternal spring’, beneath a flat shoulder with branches on a blue ground and a short cylindrical neck, the foot and base unglazed.

Chinese porcelain blue and white dish with flat everted rim, painted in the centre with two bearded scholars seated on a rocky promontory looking out to the distance, beside an overhanging willow tree with birds in flight beneath the sun, encircled by a double ring, the border with thirteen roundels each of three leaves, the underside with three jewels.

Chinese porcelain blue and white dish painted with two sages standing beside an overhanging pine tree in a cloudy mountain setting all within double rings, the gently rising flat upturned lipped rim decorated with roundels of alternating prunus blossom on a blue ground and cross design, the underside with four stylised pearls.

Chinese porcelain blue and white zhadou painted with a fisherman’s net design, the interior and base glazed white.

Chinese porcelain blue and white nightlight modelled as a crouching tiger with head raised, open mouth, biscuit tongue, bulging eyes and upright ears, with a wang character on his forehead, the body striped and painted with hairwork on a pale blue-washed ground, the dappled spine extending to a long relief tail along its back with a cash-form aperture, the base unglazed with large open rectangular section to hold the candle.