Page 73 - Six treasures of IMpeerial Art Sothebys Hong Kong April 3 2019

While a number of 14th century blue and white stem cups
of this form and decoration are known in museums and
private collections, the present example is especially fine
for the lively depiction of the dragon, the expertly applied
crisp glaze and the vividness of the cobalt blue. It is evident
that the piece was highly prized by its owners over the past
seven centuries. The artist has executed the dragon chasing
‘flaming pearls’ in a free and vigorous fashion, bringing
this mythical creature to life. While the meaning of the yu
character, found in the interior of the vessel moulded in front
of a dragon’s foremost claw, remains a matter of debate, it
may represent a grading system with the yu, meaning ‘jade’,
added to especially fine pieces. Some consider it part of
the decoration representing the meaning ‘jewel’ (bao) and
associated with the flaming pearl.
For related stem cups, decorated both with dragons and
phoenix, see those excavated from the Yuan city site at
Jininglu in Inner Mongolia included in Chen Yongzhi ed.,
Porcelain Unearthed from Jininglu Ancient City Site in Inner
Mongolia, Beijing, 2004, pl. 46 for a dragon stem cup, pls
42-4 for three stem cups decorated with phoenix, and p.
12 for several pieces packed together in a jar as found on
site. Another example, excavated from the tomb of the
eminent Ming official Wang Xingzu, datable to the fourth
year of Hongwu (1371), in the Nanjing Museum, is published
in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong,
1993, pl. 33; and a third, in the Art Museum, Chinese
University of Hong Kong, was included in the exhibition
Yuan and Ming Blue and White Ware from Jiangxi, Jiangxi
Provincial Museum, Nanchang, 2002, cat. no. 15. Compare
a related stem cup, but with stiff leaves encircling the foot,
in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and
White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Shanghai, 2000,
pl. 12.
See also a stem cup in the British Museum, London,
published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the
British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 1:24; two similar stem
cups from the collections of Mrs O. Harriman and Lord
Cunliffe, included in the exhibition Chinese Blue and White
Porcelain: 14th to 19th Centuries, The Oriental Ceramic
Society at the Arts Council Gallery, London, 1953-3, cat. nos
11 and 12 respectively; and a fourth example from the R.H.R.
Palmer and Jingguantang collections, sold several times at
auction and most recently in these rooms, 9th October 2012,
lot 17, from the Meiyintang collection.

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