Provenance
Vanderven Oriental Art, 's Hertogenbosch.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above on 3 April 1997, during TEFAF Maastricht, and accompanied by a copy of their invoice and valuation report. (see added scans)
Exhibited:
TEFAF Maastricht, 1997, Vanderven Oriental Art.
Description
Sturdily potted with a globular body rising from a slightly spreading foot to a tall cylindrical neck with a flared mouth, set with a long, gently curved S-shaped spout and a high loop handle. The body is left deliberately undecorated in plain white, contrasting with the finely painted underglaze-blue ornament on the neck, foot, spout and handle. The neck is decorated with flowering plants issuing from rockwork beneath a geometric diaper band and a collar of upright leaves, while the foot is encircled by a continuous landscape of birds amongst flowering plants. The slender spout is embellished with stylised floral sprays and is joined to the neck by a moulded strut, its lower terminal modelled as the head of a mythical beast. The lower terminal of the handle is similarly fashioned as the beast’s tail.
The recessed base bears a four-character mark reading Chang ming fu gui (“Long life, riches and honour”).
Made for export to the Persian market, this elegant form closely follows contemporary Safavid metalwork ewers, demonstrating the adaptability of Jingdezhen potters to foreign tastes during the late Ming period. While the distinctive shape derives from Persian prototypes, the painted decoration remains unmistakably Chinese, combining stylised floral motifs, birds and landscape elements with restrained use of underglaze blue. Such ewers were among the finest porcelains produced for the Islamic world and testify to the flourishing maritime trade between China and Persia during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
Reference:
For a comparable example in the Topkapi Saray Palace Collection, see J. Ayers, R. Krahl, 'Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul. Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains', vol. II, p. 657, fig. 1020. Another related example is illustrated by John Alexander Pope, 'Chinese Porcelain from the Ardebil Shrine', plate 98.
Chang Ming Fu Gui 長命富貴 mark, Jiajing/Wanli
H.: 23,2 cm
Estimation
€ 6.000,00 – € 12.000,00
Provenance
Vanderven Oriental Art, 's Hertogenbosch.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above on 3 April 1997, during TEFAF Maastricht, and accompanied by a copy of their invoice and valuation report. (see added scans)
Exhibited:
TEFAF Maastricht, 1997, Vanderven Oriental Art.