Page 91 - Bonhams May 11th 2017 London Fine Chinese Art
P. 91
176
A SMALL ENAMELLED BALUSTER VASE
Signed Yunshao Shanren Zuo, cyclically dated Dingchou year,
corresponding to 1937, and of the period
Decorated in subdued enamels around the exterior with
flowers and a kingfisher hovering above a school of fish in
water, beside calligraphic inscription. 13.3cm (5 1/4in) high
£3,000 - 5,000
CNY26,000 - 43,000
丁丑年（一九三七） 彩釉花鳥圖小罐
「云少山人作」行書款
Provenance: a British private collection, and thence by
descent
來源：英國私人收藏，並由後人保存迄今
The inscription reads:
又是二分秋色到
‘Autumnal colours again arrive with the equinox’
177
A RARE AND LARGE BRONZE ‘LOTUS’ BALUSTER
VASE
Cast Nei Zao two-character mark, Ming Dynasty
Heavily cast supported on a tall spreading foot, the bulbous
body evenly distributed with four large stylised lotus flower
heads in low relief, borne on and encircled by an undulating
meander issuing foliate acanthus leaves, raising to a slender
neck decorated to each side with long flowering stalks of
prunus and magpies, beneath a stepped rim and flanked by a
pair of loop handles issuing from animal masks, the base cast
with a two-character mark ‘Nei Zao’, encircled by two striding
five-clawed dragons in pursuit of the pearl of wisdom.
43.2cm (17in) high
£3,000 - 5,000
CNY26,000 - 43,000
明 銅番蓮紋獸首耳尊
夔龍「內造」楷書鑄款
Provenance: a British private collection, and thence by
descent
來源：英國私人收藏，並由後人保存迄今
The present vase is unusually marked on the base with ‘Nei 177
Zao’, which may be translated as ‘Made for Inner [use]’,
encircled by a pair of five-clawed dragons pursuing the
flaming pearl of wisdom. This mark may be related to that
found on the base of a bronze incense burner, Ming dynasty,
in the Palace Museum, Beijing, marked ‘Nei Tan Jiao She 內
壇郊社’, illustrated in Splendors from the Yongle (1403-1424)
and Xuande (1426-1435) Reigns of China’s Ming Dynasty,
Beijing, 2010, pl.154. See also a turquoise-glazed stoneware
jar, 15th century, bearing a ‘Neifu gongyong’ (內府供用) mark
(‘Made for use in the Inner Palace’), in the Sir Percival David
Collection, British Museum, illustrated in Imperial Taste: Chinese
Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, San Francisco,
1989, pl.36, where it is noted that this jar was formerly part of
the Imperial collection in Beijing. Other similarly-marked jars can
be seen on wine jars of the Cizhou type as early as the 14th
century; see an exhibition organised by the Osaka Municipal
Museum of Art, Charm of Black and White Ware: Transition of
Cizhou Type Wares, Osaka, 2002, pp.134 and 190, no.148.
For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.
