Porcelain & Works of Art

A Japanese porcelain Kakiemon polychrome deep bowl with foliate lobed upright brown dressed rim, painted on the exterior with two elaborate-tailed birds in flight between branches of bamboo, leaves and rockwork, the interior with flowering branches of plum blossom amongst rockwork, all painted in luminous tones of blue, turquoise and iron red enamels. The glazed base with a single ring in underglaze blue and a spur mark. The white fine biscuit foot rim revealing the body.

A pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white square flasks and covers each painted with four different scenes, probably from the story of Yang Yi and her family, Yang Jia Jiang Yanji, with scenes of her in full armour on horseback, holding two swords aloft and going into battle while another army flees, another with her meeting a general, another of ministers meeting a general, and a further scene with her seated in formal military attire at a table while her soldiers bring in a prisoner naked to the waist with his hands tied behind his back, all within triangular diaper borders, with a wan character ground at the shoulder, and flowering branches on the neck, with different matched covers, one with key-fret and fish panels, the other with lozenge and ruyi heads, the finials with a fu character, good fortune. The unglazed bases revealing the biscuit body with recessed glazed square centres, each with a ribbon tied leaf mark in underglaze blue.

Pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white wine ewers, each with rounded globular body, tall cylindrical tapered neck, with a relief flanged beneath the mouth and a dragon-head handle, painted with lobed lozenge form floral reserves amongst flower heads between similar borders, the neck with similar reserves on a net form ground, the handle with blue glazed open mouth dragon head and scrolling branches, terminating in a large leaf. The flat bases on glazed revealing the smooth white biscuit body.

A Chinese porcelain famille verte rectangular tea caddy and cover, painted with lotus leaves, flower-heads, aquatic plants and a rhizome, beneath iron-red insects in flight the reverse with flowering chrysanthemum, pierced rockwork with a butterfly and insects in flight, the two shorter sides each with flowering branches of morning glory, the shoulder with aster flowers, branches and rockwork, all the panels outlined with a green glazed frame and supported on four raised bracket feet, the cover with peony and camellia.

A Chinese white jade snuff bottle of generous rounded form, upright neck relief foot rim and superbly hollowed with two masks and ring handles.

A Chinese honey shadow agate snuff bottle, carved in low relief with a scholar seated in a naturalistic raft, with a bat in flight above his head, on a rich honey coloured naturally mottled ground, the reverse of lighter tone, with superbly hollowed interior, convex rim and short raised foot rim, agate stopper.

A Chinese shadow agate snuff bottle carved in low relief, with a dark brown falcon, its head turned back on a superbly hollowed naturally mottled ground, all on a short raised foot rim, with natural carved qilong dragon stopper, the stopper damaged.

A set of three Chinese porcelain ko-akae, wucai, polychrome lozenge shape dishes with foliate flutted rims, each painted with a seated figure of Budai, resting against his long staff holding a necklace in his right hand and the edge of his treasure sack, beside the edge of rocky promontory with an overhanging pine tree beneath iron-red cloud within an iron-red border, the rim dressed brown. The base with a two characters mark of Taiping within a double rectangle,

A Chinese porcelain ko-akai, wucai, square dish, painted in the centre with a crosshatch design of different polychrome grounds including key-fret, cash, tile, scale and chainmail dispersed between iron red flower heads of lotus, prunus and camellia, encircled by a band of butterfly and insects beneath a flat everted rim, painted with crested swirling waves, the chamfered corners with pendent flowers.

A Chinese porcelain blue and white kosometsuke plate, painted in the centre with a rabbit with his head turned upwards in white on an underglaze blue roundel, encircled by four different geometric grounds including key-fret, cash, chainmail and scales, divided by a cross, each terminating with a pair of cions, all beneath a blue ground boarder, on a scrolling ground, the underside with flower heads and scrolls.

A Chinese cloisonné enamel bowl of conical form, with flat base, bronze flattened rim and foot rim, decorated on the exterior with the bajixiang, eight Buddhist emblems above eight lotus flower heads, all on scrolling branches with leaves in red, yellow, white, blue, green and black on a turquoise ground, the base similarly decorated with a single lotus flower and bud, the interior with two registers, each of the eight lotus flower heads on scrolling branches with leaves on a white ground encircling a blue Tibetan Sanskrit character on a white ground in the well of the interior.

A large and heavy Chinese gold splash bronze tripod censer with upright openwork handles, slightly waisted neck and rounded flat rim, covered with bright gold splashes on its untouched ground.

A Chinese gold splash bronze vase of slender tapered form with circular neck and flat, gently everted rim with two mythological animal mask and loose-ring handles, covered all over in rich and even gold splashes, extending on the recessed base and the rim, all on a brown, bronze ground.

Chinese porcelain blue and white kosometsuke incense burner modelled as a rectangular box, the cover with a reclining Buddhist lion splashed with fukozumi on the body, the raised rectangular plinth form base painted on the wide side in reverse technique with a flowerhead and scrolling branches on a blue ground, the ends with a precious double lozenge, all between double lines in underglaze blue.

A pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white large ovoid ginger jars and covers, each painted with four different panels, two of landscape and two with the bogu tu, ‘100 antiques’, one vase with two landscape panels with scholar and attendant crossing a rocky promontory in a mountain river landscape scene, the other with a single scholar crossing a rocky promontory in a mountain river landscape scene with viewing pavilion and buildings beneath mountains and birds in flight and a scene with addition of a fisherman in his boat, the ‘100 antiques’ panels including vases of archaic gu form holding peacock feathers, censers, wrapped qins, ruyi-sceptres, weiqi board, rings, music stone, scrolls, books and precious objects, all on a rich blue floral cash ground between ruyi-lappets painted in reverse with white flowerheads on a blue ground, beneath a keyfret band at the shoulder, the covers with bogu tu with different bands at the rim, one with a ruyi-band, one with a fruit and floral band, each beneath a crenellated band.

Chinese porcelain blue and white lotus form teapot and cover, one side with a fisherman seated in his boat, the other with a scholar seated on a rocky promontory in a mountain river landscape scene, between relief lotus leaf petals painted with flowers, the spout set on another petal panel painted with a fisherman in his boat beneath birds in flight, and the handle set on a further panel with river landscape scene, the cover with relief lotus pods amongst flowering branches.

Chinese porcelain famille verte large deep saucer dish painted in vivid bright and fresh enamels with Yingying resting on a wutong branch, with her hand placed under her qin, while her maid Hongniang points up at Zhang Sheng playing his qin at a balcony window, while his attendant crouches down, all in a elaborate scene at night beneath stars and a gilt moon, with another building in the distance amongst clouds, the garden below with willow, pine, rockwork and plantain, with a stone table set with a bonsai and a branch of flowering prunus, encircled by a border with eight reserves of precious objects including books, scrolls, ruyi-sceptre, rings, wrapped qin, horn, weiqi games board, counter holders and a branch of coral, mostly tied with ribbons, all dispersed between different geometric grounds, the base with an underglaze blue leaf mark within a double ring.

Pair of Chinese imperial porcelain famille rose, fencai, lobed jardinieres on five ruyi-head feet, the body decorated with gilt circular shou-character medallions amongst iron red bats in flight and blue enamel wan-characters, all heightened in gilt on a rich lemon yellow ground, the flat slightly lipped rim with flowerheads on a lime green ground, the interior and base with turquoise enamel lining.