Ming & Earlier

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 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.

Chinese porcelain blue and white moulded saucer dish in the form of a chrysanthemum flower with two registers of individually outlined petals and petal-shape rim painted in the centre with sanyou, the Three Friends of Winter, pine, prunus and bamboo, beneath stylised clouds, the underside with three registers of outlined petals, the base with a ‘fu’ mark within a double square, within a double ring.

Chinese porcelain blue and white cake basket with upright flat sides and strap handle, painted on the interior with four horses amongst grass, the exterior painted with branches of fruiting pomegranates, the upright handle with a flowerhead and scrolling branch.

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.

Large Chinese porcelain blue and white saucer dish painted with two sailing boats in a mountainous river landscape scene, a ferry man in each boat transporting a lady and a gentleman with attendant respectively, beneath a twelve-character poem and the moon, all within a single line, the underside with three lingzhi sprays.

Large Chinese porcelain blue and white deep bowl of moulded lotus flower form, painted in the centre with a sixteen-petal medallion of sanyou, The Three Friends of Winter, pine, prunus and bamboo, amongst rockwork beneath clouds, encircled by two registers of large petals, the lower tier with prunus, river landscape and pine petals beneath larger petals of mountains, landscape and waves, aquatic leaves, prunus, and a sage standing on a mountain peak holding a staff, beside petal tips with wan characters beneath a blue glazed rim, the underside similarly decorated, omitting the figural petals above a smaller third tier of petals with prunus flower heads, the base with a double ring in underglaze blue.

Chinese porcelain blue and white sake bottle of pear shape with slender neck and gently flared rim, painted on the exterior with three leaping deer amongst stylised clouds and flames, the base glazed white.

Chinese porcelain blue and white drum-shaped shallow circular bowl with concave ogee rim painted in the centre with three wild horses amongst foliage, beneath cloud scrolls and the moon within a double ring in underglaze blue, the inner rim, outer rim and lobed edges with blue lines, the base unglazed on a shallow foot rim.

Chinese porcelain blue and white sweetmeat dish, mukozuke, in the form of a recumbent elephant on three circular feet with its head turned back, the underside moulded with the ears, eyes and tail painted to highlight the features.

Chinese porcelain blue and white sweetmeat dish, mukozuke, in the form of a recumbent buffalo, the details picked out in lines, blue wash and splashed on both sides with fukizumi, the underside moulded with the head and tail outlined, all on three short feet.