Page 78 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art 09/13/17
P. 78
55
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION Several early Ming meiping of similar design and size as the
present vase are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see a Yongle
A BLUE AND WHITE ‘FRUITS’ MEIPING piece illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series
MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 12, pl. 12;
another in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu
the elegant form rising from a slightly waisted base to broad, taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from
generous shoulders, well painted in soft washes of cobalt, with the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pl. 85; and a third,
a wide band of six fruiting sprays arranged in an alternating attributed to the Xuande period, published in Geng Baochang,
double register, the upper register showing detached peach, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming
pomegranate and crab apple, the lower register with lychee, blue-and-white porcelain in the Palace Museum], Beijing,
loquat and cherry, the leafy branches further issuing small 2002, vol. 1, cat. no. 76.
blossoms and buds, all between double-line borders, the
shoulders encircled by a band of lotus petals enclosing Two blue and white meiping of this design, one attributed to
elaborate trefoils, the foot skirted by a band of upright the Yongle, the other to the Xuande period, are also in the
overlapping leaves, the underglaze blue with characteristic National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Minji meihin
‘heaped and piled’ e ect giving the designs depth and texture, zuroku [Illustrated catalogue of important Ming porcelains],
all beneath a slightly blue-tinted vitreous glaze su used with a Tokyo, 1977-78, vol. 1, pls 12 and 39, the two examples slightly
natural ‘soft paste’ craquelure, the base left unglazed, the neck varying in proportion, and the latter with the design more
mounted with a 19th century beaded silver rim tightly arranged, and with a cover.
Height 11⅝., 29.5 cm
For two similar vases out of a total of six from the Ottoman
PROVENANCE Royal collection, see Regina Krahl and John Ayers, Chinese
Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. 2,
Collection of Luigi Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta (1873-1933), London, 1986, no. 624; and four meiping of this design from
Villa Gale , Montevarchi, Italy. the Safavid Royal collection preserved in the Ardabil Shrine in
Collection of Gino Soldi (1880-1958), and thence by descent. Iran are recorded and one of them illustrated in John Alexander
Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington,
This vase represents one of the classic patterns of the Yongle D.C., 1956 (rev. ed., London, 1981), pl. 51 top right.
period (1403-24) that illustrates the phenomenal advances
made by Jingdezhen’s potters and painters in less than a Three meiping of this design and similar size were sold in our
century, since blue-and-white porcelain began to be made Hong Kong rooms; one from the Edward T. Chow collection on
there. Both in terms of its well-proportioned shape, which was 19th May 1981, lot 409; another from a Nagoya tea ceremony
produced with various kinds of decoration, and its lush fruit collection on 8th April 2014, lot 3023; and a third on 7th
pattern, one of the most popular motifs of early Ming (1368- October 2015, lot 3607. A larger Yongle vase from the Estate
1644) blue-and-white which appears equally on other shapes of Laurance S. Rockefeller was sold in these rooms, 21st/22nd
of the period, this design set a standard of excellence that September 2005, lot 64.
would be emulated for centuries to come.
Meiping, in the Yongle period perhaps still used as wine jars, $ 150,000-250,000
were made in various sizes and were equally popular in China
and abroad, as examples preserved both in the Chinese palace Luigi Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta (1873-1933)
collections and the Safavid and Ottoman royal collections Villa Gale
in Iran and Turkey document. Although some scholars have Gino Soldi 1880 1958
attributed some of these vases to the Xuande reign (1426-35),
all vessels of this design appear to be unmarked.
The Soldi family, Florence, circa 1920
76 SOTHEBY’S
