Provenance
S. Marchant & Son, London, with their label to the base.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above on 11 October 2004 and accompanied by a copy of their original invoice. (see added scans)
Exhibited & illustrated:
S. Marchant & Son, London, included in their June 1997 exhibition of 'Seventeenth-Century Blue and White and Copper-Red and their Predecessors' and illustrated in the accompanying catalogue, pp. 20-21, no. 9.
S. Marchant & Son, London, included in their 2004 exhibition of 'Ming Blue and White: Jiajing - Chongzhen. Including Datex Examples', and illustrated in the accompanying catalogue, pp. 28-29, no. 18. Also illustrated in their 2025 publication 'One Hundred Years', vol. I, p. 458, fig. 843.
Description
The robustly potted vessel is modelled after an archaic bronze zun, with a flared mouth, waisted neck, compressed globular body and pronounced flanges to the sides. Finely painted in underglaze blue, the body is decorated with a five-clawed dragon and phoenix amidst scrolling clouds, while the neck is adorned with flowering peony sprays issuing from rockwork. The foot is encircled by stylised ruyi-clouds and lingzhi motifs. The decoration combines imperial symbols of the Emperor and Empress with auspicious emblems of prosperity and longevity. The base bears a six-character underglaze-blue Wanli reign mark within a double circle.
Reference:
An identical example from the John Gardner Coolidge Collection is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA, accession number 46.490. (link)
Another near-identical example is in the Beijing Palace Museum, object number 00144808. (link)
For another identical example in the Qing Court Collection, see 'Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum', p. 182, no. 112.
Another is illustrated by Wang Qing-Zheng, 'Underglaze Blue and Red in the Shanghai Museum', plate 65.
For a closely comparable example, see Bonhams in their 2021 loan exhibition 'Reginald and Lena Palmer, their Collection, and the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1921-1970', item 4. (link)
Lot 33
Wanli mark and of the period
H.: 21,2 cm
Estimation
€ 80.000,00 – € 120.000,00
Provenance
S. Marchant & Son, London, with their label to the base.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above on 11 October 2004 and accompanied by a copy of their original invoice. (see added scans)
Exhibited & illustrated:
S. Marchant & Son, London, included in their June 1997 exhibition of 'Seventeenth-Century Blue and White and Copper-Red and their Predecessors' and illustrated in the accompanying catalogue, pp. 20-21, no. 9.
S. Marchant & Son, London, included in their 2004 exhibition of 'Ming Blue and White: Jiajing - Chongzhen. Including Datex Examples', and illustrated in the accompanying catalogue, pp. 28-29, no. 18. Also illustrated in their 2025 publication 'One Hundred Years', vol. I, p. 458, fig. 843.