Page 44 - important chinese art mar 22 2018

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A FINELY PAINTED BLUE AND surmounted by a bulbous mouth. Related dragon
WHITE ‘DRAGON’ GARLIC-MOUTH and phoenix vases include a slightly larger
BOTTLE VASE example, but with a border of prunus ! owers on a
wave ground on the shoulder and stylised lappet
WANLI MARK AND PERIOD bands around the mouth, published in Mayuyama,
Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 298, and
sturdily potted, the pear-shaped body supported
sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st June 2011, lot
on a short foot, tapering to a tall neck with
3591, from the collection of the B.S.N. Niigata
a garlic-head mouth and upright mouth rim,
Hoso Museum, Niigata; and a smaller example,
the body painted with two pairs of confronted
but with interlocking pomegranates on the mouth,
phoenix and sinuous # ve-clawed dragons in
sold in these rooms, 7th December 1983, lot 301,
pursuit of ‘! aming pearls’ amidst a composite
again in our London rooms, 13th December 1988,
! oral scroll, all above a band of upright lappets
lot 169, and a third time in our Hong Kong rooms,
and ruyi at the foot and below a border of keyfret
2nd May 2000, lot 659. See also a vase of this
at the shoulder, the slightly waisted neck painted
type decorated with a pair of # ve-clawed dragons
with a meandering ! oral scroll and auspicious
below a lotus scroll on the neck and pearl strings
emblems, with bands of stylized pendent ruyi
on its mouth, from the Meiyintang Collection,
and cloud scroll encircling the mouth, the six-
illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from
character reign mark inscribed in a horizontal
the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010,
line within a rectangular cartouche at the rim,
vol. IV, pl. 343; and another painted with two pairs
Japanese wood box (3)
of sinuous dragons in pursuit of ‘! aming pearls’
Height 17⅜ in., 44.2 cm
amidst ! oral scrolls, sold in these rooms, 15th
Garlic-mouth vases of this distinctive form are March 2017, lot 11.
outstanding among the larger Wanli wares and
Vases of this form and design are also found
are known decorated with several variations
decorated in polychrome enamels; for example
in the horizontal bands. The dynamism of the
see one with varying bands of decoration, from
leaping dragons and swooping phoenix, emblems
the collection of A.A. Ballard, sold at Christie’s
of the emperor and empress, confronting a
London, 9th June 1975, lot 79; and another in the
‘! aming pearl’ is accentuated by the tight lotus
Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, published in
and baijixiang scrolls adorning the neck, all
Toyo Toji Meihin Zuroku [Illustrated Catalogue of
Famous Pieces of Oriental Pottery and Porcelain],
Tokyo, 1991, pl. 94.
Pear-shape vases with a bulbous mouth
resembling a garlic head were produced in bronze
from as early as the Western Han period (206 BC
– AD 9); see a pair of vases sold in these rooms,
12th-13th March 1975, lot 157, and again, from
the collection of J.T. Tai & Co., 22nd March 2011,
lot 191.
$ 60,000-80,000
׼ຬ዇ ڡڀᎲჾႼम७ႉ᎘ଧ
ɽ׼ຬ዇ϋႡ‘ಛ

42 SOTHEBY’S