Page 140 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

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PROPERTY FROM THE JUNKUNC COLLECTION Stemcups made in the Wanli period and While no other closely related stemcup appears
EXTREMELY RARE PAIR OF BLUE- decorated with sea creatures are rare, and to be known, a stemcup painted with this
GROUND IRON-RED AND GREEN- those with details painted in overglaze green design but lacking the overglaze enamels was
sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th May 2013,
and iron red are even rarer. The design was
ENAMELED ‘MYTHICAL BEASTS’ modeled after Xuande period (r. 1426-1435) lot 2247. Wanli mark and period stemcups
STEM CUPS prototypes, which by the Wanli reign had with the creatures painted in underglaze blue
become highly valuable and much sought against a white ground, but lacking the Sanskrit
each with rounded sides rising from a spreading after. A reconstructed Xuande mark and period characters, are more commonly known. See
foot to a flared rim, decorated to the exterior
with mythical beasts with incised features, stemcup painted in underglaze blue with this for example, a pair from the collection of the
frolicking among green cresting waves design, unearthed from the waste heaps of the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, later in the
Imperial kiln factory at Jingdezhen, is illustrated
Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina
against a ground of bright blue inky tones, the in Imperial Porcelain from the Reign of Xuande Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang
rim mounted in silver above a collar of red-
enameled ruyi between green and blue enamel in the Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2018, pl. 29. Collection, vol. 4, London, 2010, pl. 1696, and
line borders, repeating on the horizontal filet Known as haishou (sea creatures) the nine sold twice in our London rooms in 1970 and
1986, and in our Hong Kong rooms in 1988 and
encircling the stem, the interior covered in animals on these stemcups are believed to again, 7th April 2011, lot 71; and a stemcup sold
brilliant green enamel and centered by nine depict mythological creatures from the famous
underglaze blue lança characters, the base Shanhaijing (Classics of Mountains and Seas). at Christie’s New York, 20th September 2005,
glazed white and inscribed with a six-character Written between the Warring States period lot 262.
mark within a double circle (2) (475-221 B.C.) and the Han dynasty (206 B.C.- The motif is also known on stemcups with an
Diameter 3⅜ in., 8.5 cm A.D. 220), it is a compilation of mythological apocryphal Xuande mark, such as one from
stories and geographical information. The the Sir Percival David Collection, now in the
PROVENANCE Sanskrit characters on the interior of these British Museum, London, illustrated in Margaret
Nagatani, Chicago, 12th January 1959. stemcups suggest an association with Tibetan Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). Buddhism. It is likely that stemcups of this type Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains,
were made as tribute gifts to Tibetan lamas. A London, 1976, pl. C601.
$ 100,000-150,000 Xuande mark and period stemcup with Sanskrit
characters on the interior, and the exterior
painted in wucai enamels with ducks swimming
明萬曆 青花紅綠彩海獸梵文高 in a lotus pond, in the Sa-skya Monastery,
足盃一對 Tibet, was included in the exhibition Treasures
from Snow Mountains. Gems of Tibetan Cultural
《大明萬曆年製》款 Relics, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2001, cat.
no. 94.
來源
Nagatani，芝加哥，1959年1月12日
史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

138 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART