Page 147 - Fine Chinese Ceramics Sept 2016

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A BLUE AND WHITE
PEAR-SHAPED VASE
TRANSITIONAL PERIOD,
CIRCA 1635-1640
The body is decorated in rich tones of blue
with a scene of a military fgure and his
attendants, one holding the bridle of his
horse, below a foliate scroll border and
stylized leafy plants separated by babao on
the neck.
14æ in. (37.2 cm.) high
$18,000-22,000

The present vase is beautifully painted
with a narrative scene, most likely taken
from a play or a novel. The combination
of a continuous scene that tells a story,
together with tulips motifs, can be found
on vases from the Transitional period,
when the artisans at Jingdezhen enjoyed
greater artistic freedom due to the lack of
imperial control of the kilns at the time.

A vase of comparable size, shape and
similar composition of decoration, with a
narrative scene on the body and tulips on
the neck, is in the Butler Family Collection
and illustrated by M. Butler, M. Medley
and S. Little in Seventeenth-Century
Chinese Porcelain from the Butler Family
Collection, Alexandria, VA, 1990, p. 81, no.
40. A double-gourd vase of similar size
from the Julia and John Curtis Collection,
decorated with a narrative scene
displaying similar quality of the painting
to the present vase, was sold at Christie’s
New York, 16 March 2015, lot 3535.
中間期 （約1635-1640年間）
青花人物故事圖長頸瓶

(detail)

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