Page 146 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

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A FINELY PAINTED BLUE AND WHITE 明崇禎 青花山水人物圖筒瓶
‘LANDSCAPE’ SLEEVE VASE
MING DYNASTY, CHONGZHEN PERIOD 來源
Height 18¼ in., 46.3 cm 阿姆斯特丹蘇富比1986年12月17日，編號23
荷蘭私人收藏
PROVENANCE 馬風春中日藝術，阿姆斯特丹
Sotheby’s Amsterdam, 17th December 1986, lot 23. 紐約佳士得2018年9月14日，編號1354
Dutch Private Collection.
Feng-Chun Ma Chinese and Japanese Art, Amsterdam.
Christie’s New York, 14th September 2018, lot 1354.
The political turmoil of the Transitional period resulted in
the loss of Ming imperial control over the Jingdezhen kilns.
During this time, artisans were free to create porcelains in
response to popular tastes, resulting in new themes, subject
matter, motifs, and painting styles on porcelain.
The landscape scene on the present jar is masterfully
and delicately rendered. Upon close inspection, several
figures are seen leisurely lounging in pavilions amidst the
surrounding mountains, looming above the vast riverscape.
Broad swathes of pale wash and fine inky blue lines express
a range of details, textures, and surfaces, from misty clouds
and jagged rocks, to swaying willow branches and beautiful
renderings of fishermen in action. The intricacy of the
scene coupled with the unforgiving nature of the blue and
white medium indicate that the painter of this vase was
exceptionally skilled.
Compare a closely related sleeve vase depicting a fishermen
on a raft amidst a mountainous landscape from the
collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung, sold in our London
rooms, 8th December 2022, lot 282. See another sleeve
vase, depicting a scene that is a conceit for the Chinese
idiom jiaguan jinjue 加官進爵 (promotion to higher rank or
nobility), previously in the collection of President Herbert
Hoover, and more recently, the Wolf Family Collection, sold
in these rooms, 21st April 2023, lot 606.
$ 70,000-90,000

288 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 289