Page 271 - Christies King St. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

*320

A RARE BLUE AND WHITE GLOBULAR JARLET
YONGLE PERIOD (1403-1424)

明永樂 青花纏枝花卉紋水盛

The jarlet is decorated to the exterior with a continuous intricate foral scroll between a keyfret border to
the mouth rim and a stylised foliate band to the foot.

5 in. (12.7 cm.) diam.

£25,000-35,000 $39,000-53,000
€35,000-48,000

Small spherical jars, although rare, were made at the imperial kilns in the early 15th century with
slightly varying profles. A more compressed vessel, dated to the Yongle reign is in the collection of the
Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 34
– Blue and White Porcelain with underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 47, no. 45). A more rounded
vessel, bearing a Xuande mark is in the same collection (illustrated ibid., p. 138, no. 130). Another
more spherical jar bearing a Xuande mark is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
(illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming
Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 60-1, no. 3).

Globular bowls of this type were known as pure water bowls, qingshuiwan. They were used in Buddhist
rituals as vessels containing sacred water used to purify the heart.

269