A VERY RARE UNDERGLAZE-BLUE INSCRIBED AND MOULDED 'DRAGON' STEMCUP, GAOZU WAN -

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HK$4,000,000 - HK$6,000,000
• ($518,452 - $777,677)

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Sale 2711
the imperial saleimportant chinese ceramics and works of art
27 May 2009
Convention Hall Buy Catalog

A VERY RARE UNDERGLAZE-BLUE INSCRIBED AND MOULDED 'DRAGON' STEMCUP, GAOZU WAN
YUAN/EARLY MING DYNASTY, LATE 14TH CENTURY

The upright sides fluidly and expertly painted in vibrant tones of purplish underglaze-blue with a three-clawed dragon purposefully striding in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl' between single line borders in a contrasting blue of paler, greyer tone, and on the interior with a narrow band of classic scroll at the everted rim and a chrysanthemum sprig in a roundel to the centre, the well decorated in crisp slip decoration with the character Yu, 'Purity', and two four-clawed dragons chasing after further 'flaming pearls', the whole raised on a horizontally ribbed and spreading stem
4 1/2 in. (11.4cm.) diam.

元末/明初 青花凸龍紋高足盌

此器源自日本山中商會，後由美國知名收藏家Stephen Junkunc 三世收藏。1949年10-12月於美國費城藝術博物館 之《明朝青花瓷器展》展出；1949年12月至1950年2月於美國芝加哥藝術學院展出；1995年於臺北歷史博物館舉 辦之《清翫雅集收藏展》中展出。1993年10月25日於紐約佳士得拍賣，拍品718號。

如此器在裏壁模印凸雲龍紋的甚為少見，再模印字樣的更是寥寥無幾。英國維多利亞阿爾伯特博物館藏有一件與此器一樣在裏壁模印「玉」字的高足盌。北京故宮博物院藏一件裏壁模印凸雲龍紋的高足盌，但足柄繪有蓮花瓣紋。

I confirm that I have read this Important Notice and agree to its terms.

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Yamanaka & Co.
Stephen Junkunc III

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Blue-decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, October-December 1949, no. 4, p. 12
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, December 1949-February 1950
National Museum of History, Taipei, The Exquisite Chinese Artifacts- Collection of the Ching Wan Society, 1995, no. 88

Previously sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 25 October 1993, lot 718.

The present stemcup is one of three originally in the collection of Stephen Junkunc III; two of which have previously been sold at Christie's New York, 21 March 2002, lot 159 and 29 March 2006, lot 420. The first of these was originally purchased from Yamanaka & Co., as was the present stemcup.

A stemcup of similar form and decoration to that of the present example is in the collection of the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 14, no. 12. The Palace Museum example, dated to the Yuan dynasty, is also moulded with similar striding dragons on the interior but has an additional plantain leaf band in underglaze-blue around the stem foot. It has been mentioned that glazes of blue and white wares of the mid-Yuan period have a greyish tinge, which by the late Yuan had become more lustrous, ibid, p. 14. Judging from the brilliance of the glaze and richness of the cobalt-blue, it is possible that the stemcup dates to the late Yuan, or perhaps early Hongwu period.

The vibrant underglaze-blue colour and painting style of the dragon, together with the 'bamboo'-form stem foot are also characteristics found on a larger stemcup (14 cm. high) excavated in Nanjing in 1970 from the tomb of Wang Xingzu dated to the 4th year of the Hongwu period (AD 1371), now in the Nanjing Museum. The excavated example was originally reported in Kaogu 1972:4, p. 32 and pl. 6, figs. 1 and 2; and published again by Wang Qingzheng in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 31, dated to the late Yuan/early Ming dynasty. As with the present example, the exterior has a three-clawed underglaze-blue dragon and two moulded four-clawed dragons to the interior.

Compare a similar stem cup from the Palmer Collection illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London 1954, pl. 2A and by E. Bluett, 'Chinese Works of Art in English Collections: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. R.H.R. Palmer - I', Apollo, April 1958, pl. 160, fig. VIII(c), later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 17 January 1989, lot 561, and later in the collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, illustrated by J. Ayers in the Catalogue, 1990, no. 57. Another very similar example in the A. Brankston collection was illustrated by S. Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, pl. 3c (iii) and two similar examples from the collection of Mrs. Otto Harriman and the other in the collection of Lord Cunliffe were included by the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition, Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, 14th to 19th Centuries, London, December 1953 - January 1954, nos. 11 and 12.

Interestingly, the present example is only one of two with an additional character Yu moulded on the interior; the other stemcup is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, no. 136, where the Yu character has been translated as 'precious'.

Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art

• 14th Century
• dragon
• All other categories of objects
• bowls
• ceramic
• China
• Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)

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