Page 23 - Tabor Collection Christie's New York April 10 2019

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A RARE BLUE AND WHITE PILGRIM BOTTLE
PROBABLY LATE WANLI PERIOD, EARLY 17TH CENTURY
Painted in inky cobalt with the arms of Castile and Leon quartered by a cross,
most likely after a coin minted in Spain or the Spanish New World, the reverse
showing insects amidst a clump of fowering plants
12¼ in. (31.2 cm.) high
$40,000-60,000
PROVENANCE:
With Santos, London.
Anonymous sale, Aspire Auctions, Cleveland, October 2012, lot 246.
LITERATURE:
William R. Sargent, Chinese Porcelain in the Conde Collection, Madrid, 2014, p.
112-113, no. 23.
A small group of these bottles is known in both public and private collections,
all with arms apparently after a coin minted during the reign of Philip II
(1556-98), .Some have foral decoration on the reverse, like this example,
while others show a Chinese scholar seated in landscape. The inventory
of the more than 3000 pieces in Philip II's porcelain collection does not
appear to list similar bottles, and it is likely that the order came from another
Spanish aristocrat, merchant or churchman.
Spanish silver, mined in the New World and minted in Mexico, South
America or Spain, including the famous ocho reales (pieces of eight), was the
world's most desirable currency for centuries. China held so much Spanish
silver at the height of the two nations' commerce that it caused a major trade
imbalance; it remained legal currency in the U.S. until the 1873 Coinage Act
and either its Pillars of Hercules motif (on the reverse) or the abbreviation for
pesos likely led to the modern dollar sign. Whether these coin bottles were
made in Philip II's reign or in that of his son, Philip III (1598-1621), or later,
they pointedly refect the economic and art exchange of East and West in the
China trade period.

For a complete discussion see M. A. P. de Matos, The RA Collection of
Chinese Ceramics, pp. 172-5, A.V. Santos (ed.), Portugal in Porcelain from
China, pp. 179-185, and R, Diaz, Chinese Armorial Porcelain for Spain, pp.
74-79.

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