Page 76 - Imperial Sale Chinese Works of Art June 1 2016 HK

fig. 1 Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei fig. 2 Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
（圖一）台北故宮博物院藏品
3222 Continued
The current meiping, distinguished by its well-balanced form, elegant
composition, and delicate painting, rendered successfully by the
painter’s controlled yet confident hand, represents one of the finest
examples of early fifteenth-century blue and white wares.
Similar meiping bearing this design are known in museums and private
collections worldwide, ranging from 24.5 cm. to 41 cm. in height. Three
examples of comparable size have been recorded, one was included in
The Philadelphia 1949 Exhibition of Ming Blue-and-white, Catalogue,
no. 89, and now in the Matsuoka Museum of Arts; the second in the
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, included in the Art gallery of
New South Wales Exhibition of Chinese Porcelain, 1977, Catalogue,
no. 52; and the third in the Topkapi Saray Museum, no. TKS15/3822.
The Topkapi Saray Museum has an additional five meiping bearing
this design, two of 29 cm. in height, are illustrated by Regina Krahl
in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Museum: A Complete Catalogue,
vol. 2, London, 1986, p. 430, no. 624, one of which has a blue ground
to the petals around the shoulder. The Ardebil Shrine similarly has six
meiping of this design, one is illustrated in Chinese Porcelains from the court during the 18th century, when the early Ming original was sent
Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, no. 51. Two further examples are
in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Mingci Mingpin
Tulu: Hongwu Yao, Yongle Yao, Xuande Yao, Tokyo, 1977, pls. 12 (fig. 1)
and 39, the later with a cover and a slightly different proportion and a
more tightly arranged composition, is attributed to the Xuande period.
One in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci
quanji, vol. 12, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 12, and a second by Geng Baochang
in Gugong bowuyuan cang Mingchu qinghua ci, Beijing, 2002, vol. 1, pl.
76, dated Xuande period. Another from the Percival David Foundation
of Chinese Art, no. PDF A.610, is currently on display at the British
Museum.
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（圖二）北京故宮博物院藏品
In terms of form and decoration, the current type of meiping is closely
related to another group of meiping from this period, which has a
rounder waist and a more complex design showing ten fruiting sprays
as the main motif, arranged in a narrower register between more
elaborate borders. Examples of this second group include two covered
meiping in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White
Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 31-32, nos.
29-30 (no. 29, fig. 2); and one formerly in the Meiyintang Collection,
sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 October 2011, lot 11.
The current meiping appears to be the only one of this size group
and design to have been offered at auction. Similar examples of this
design sold at auction include one from the YC Chen Collection, sold
at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 1930 (28.5 cm.), and another
sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 April 2014, lot 3023 (28 cm.).
Copies of this form and design were commissioned by the imperial
to Jingdezhen for potters to emulate, as indicated by an entry from the
Palace archives dated to the sixth month of Qianlong third year (1738).
The Qing copies are characterised by a wider shoulder and simulated
‘heaping and piling’ effect, such as a pair of Qianlong-marked
examples sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2011,
lot 2942. (fig. 3)