Large Chinese porcelain fahua vase of guan form, Ming dynasty, 15th-16th century

A large Chinese porcelain fahua vase of guan form, carved in relief with Shoulao seated holding a ruyi sceptre beside an attendant fanning the flames of a censer, all between a deer and crane, in a continuous landscape scene with the Eight Immortals each holding their various attributes between pine trees, rockwork and a large cloud bank, beneath a ruyi-head band at the shoulder enclosing the bajixian, the eight precious objects, all between lappet borders, the neck with lingzhi cloud sprays, the entire exterior heightened in turquoise, yellow and pale aubergine on a deep, rich aubergine-blue ground, the interior covered in a green glaze, the unglazed base with green splashes, the biscuit revealing the body.

12 ¾ inches, 32.4 cm high.

Ming dynasty, 15^th-16^th century.

• Sold by Christie’s London in their auction of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Export Art, 7^th November 2006, lot 183.
• Published by Michael S. Smith in Houses of New York, 2008, pp. 135-6.
• A similar example, bequest of Isaac D. Fletcher, 1917, is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, collection number 17.120.149; another is illustrated in Anthony Du Boulay, Christie’s Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, p.174, fig.1.
• A similar vase is illustrated in Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, no. 896, pl. LXXII, case XXVI.

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Stock number