Porcelain & Works of Art

A Chinese chalcedony agate carving of a recumbent horse with two monkeys climbing on its back, each clinging onto its mane, with detailed hair work to the tail, with clever use of the material with the back monkey of a lighter tone.

Chinese porcelain blue and white deep basin with flat, everted rim, painted in the centre and the cavetto with twenty-six large shou characters on a fruiting lingzhi continuous scrolling branch, beneath a blue ground wave border with plum blossom, the underside with branches and flowers beneath a blue-dressed rim.

Chinese porcelain ko-akai, wucai, dish of flower form, with foliate rim, painted with a scholar and his attendant crossing  a bridge in a river landscape scene, the scholar carrying a staff while the attendant carries a wrapped qin, all beneath iron-red clouds and the sun with an overhanging flowering tree, heightened in green, yellow, aubergine and iron-red enamels with underglaze blue, all beneath a brown-dressed rim.

Chinese porcelain blue and white circular deep bowl, thinly potted with upright sides, painted on the exterior with two pairs of dragon and phoenix medallions, one dragon in pursuit of a white flaming pearl, the other in pursuit of a blue-glazed pearl, whilst one phoenix bird in flight looks back and the other forward, between lotus flower heads on stylised interlinked branches beneath further lotus flowers, all between underglaze blue double lines, the interior painted in the well with a similar pair of lotus flower heads interlinked  beneath a ji character, auspicious, within a double ring, beneath a band of lotus flower heads and branches.

A large Chinese porcelain blue and white ovoid jar of kraak type, painted on the body with a wide band of a continuous scene with two pheasants, one in flight swooping down between two flowering plum trees, the other standing on light blue-washed rockwork, amongst flowering peony, prunus branches and wutong beneath cloud sprays, all between two classic kraak borders of lappets and fruiting reserves, dispersed between ruyi heads on a blue-washed keyfret ground, the neck with a continuous scrolling band, the cover with three fruiting branches, similarly painted to the shoulder, the base unglazed revealing the biscuit body.

A Chinese porcelain blue and white slender beaker vase of archaic gu form, painted with the Eight Immortals, each standing and holding their attributes, in fenced garden scenes amongst rockwork and plants, each within a lozenge diaper and on a dense wan-character inspired ground, all between triangular bands and two ribs, with a gently splayed foot and flared rim.

A Chinese white jade openwork reticulated rectangular belt plaque carved with seven different shou characters, each supported on a ruyi-head scrolling branch, the three at the top between a bird and a bat in flight, with a central flowerhead, all amongst scrolls and within a rectangular frame, the underside with four pairs of holes for attachment.

Chinese imperial porcelain blue-glazed altar vessel and cover, dou, modelled after an archaic bronze with moulded and carved archaic designs, the upright body with ribs and bands all on a splayed, ribbed foot, the cover with a design of scrolls, fretwork and registers of stylised waves beneath a double-rope twist openwork finial, covered overall including the interior and underside in a deep and even blue glaze.

Chinese pale celadon circular openwork jade box, the pierced cover carved with a long-tailed crested pheasant looking back amongst flowering prunus branches and intricately serrated-edge leaves, all encircled by an archaic-style dragon border, repeated on the box base.

A Chinese pale celadon jade ewer of pear-shape, carved in the archaic style with a wide band of incised scrolls, beneath a raised band of double scrolls, all beneath a keyfret band at the rim, with openwork chilong dragon handle, with his head and front right paw at the rim, all on a splayed foot with high-relief bands, the interior well hollowed.

Chinese pale celadon and mottled jade box, deeply carved as a finger citron with high relief branches, leaves and smaller finger citron, attached with an integral loose ring between openwork gnarled branches.

Chinese porcelain white-glazed anhua decorated cylindrical brushpot, incised on the body with butterflies in flight amongst bamboo, flowering peony and daisies issuing from rock work, all between bands of stylised crested waves at the foot and a continuous scrolling flowering branch with leaves beneath the glazed rim, the underside with the smooth, pure white biscuit revealing the body.

Chinese porcelain cylindrical brushpot with grooved upper edge painted on slightly raised white slip in underglaze blue and copper-red with five images of Kui Xing in different poses holding pen and bushell measure, a book or prunus spray at his feet, on a celadon ground, the glazed base rim and central circular recess separated by a wide biscuit rim.

Chinese taupe, russet, white and mottled jade carving of two recumbent cranes, each nuzzling the other and both holding a gnarled fruiting peach branch in their mouths, the long leaves reaching down the back of the darker crane, the stone of the pebble revealing the russet edge, the claws neatly tucked underneath and detailed work to the feathers.

Chinese imperial porcelain underglaze blue and copper-red bottle vase with tapered baluster body, chang jing ping, tall cylindrical neck and lipped rim, painted with an open-mouthed three-clawed chilong dragon encircling the body, the scales in underglaze copper-red.

Chinese imperial porcelain yellow-glazed two-handled wine cup, erbei, thinly potted and incised on each side with a continuous anhua band of archaic style dragons facing each other with open mouths, between a pearl, all on a short foot rim and covered overall in an even pale-yellow glaze, pooling on the foot rim between two upright loop handles with curled ends, the interior glazed white.

Chinese imperial porcelain green dragon dish, pan, with gently flared rim, the design outlined in underglaze blue, painted in the centre with a five-clawed dragon in green glaze, in pursuit of a flaming pearl amongst stylised flames and ruyi-clouds within a double line, encircled by two further similar dragons, the underside similarly decorated, with the dragons above a lappet band.

A very fine and rare Chinese imperial porcelain white-glazed waterpot of beehive form, taibaizun, with gently flared lipped rim, moulded and carved with three relief archaic-style dragon and phoenix medallions, covered overall in an even sweet-white glaze.