Lot 121 A Chinese blue and white 'Ship Before a City Gate' bowl

A Chinese blue and white 'Ship Before a City Gate' bowl

Jiajing mark and of the period

未知

€ 4.000 – € 8.000

OH: H. 7,3 cm, Diam. 12,1 cm

未知

Finely potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short foot to a gently everted rim, the bowl is painted in underglaze cobalt blue with a continuous river landscape. The exterior is decorated with sailing vessels, smaller boats, pagodas, rocky outcrops, pine trees and distant mountains. One side is dominated by a large two-masted ship with sailors shown on deck and in the raised bow and stern structures, while another section depicts a fortified city gate with pagodas rising behind the walls, set beside swirling waves and rocky banks. The base bears a six-character Da Ming Jiajing Nian Zhi mark in underglaze cobalt blue.
The interior is decorated with a central medallion enclosing a fisherman in a small boat beside rocks and overhanging branches, the inner rim encircled by a border of herons among aquatic plants. The lively brushwork, combining pale washes with darker outlines and stippled details, is characteristic of Jiajing-period blue and white porcelain.
此碗胎體精良，深腹圓壁，自短圈足向上至口沿微撇。外壁以青花通景繪江河山水圖，畫面中可見帆船、小舟、寶塔、山石、松樹及遠山。一側以大型雙桅帆船為主景，船上水手或立於甲板，或位於高起的船首、船尾樓艙之中，另一處則繪城門與城牆，牆後寶塔聳立，旁襯波浪翻卷及山石水岸。底部以青花書 ‘大明嘉靖年製’ 六字款。
內心開光繪漁人泛舟圖，舟旁山石聳立，枝葉低垂，內口沿環飾鷺鷥與水草紋一周。整體筆法生動，以淡染配合深色勾線及點染細節，具有嘉靖時期青花瓷之典型風格。
The decoration closely relates to an importan bowl preserved in the Porzellansammlung, Dresden (inv. no. P.O. 3226), part of a gift sent in 1590 by Grand Duke Ferdinand I de’ Medici of Tuscany to Elector Christian I of Saxony. These porcelains entered the Kunstkammer in Dresden before the rise of Augustus the Strong’s famous collection and are regarded among the earliest documentary Ming porcelains in Europe. The Dresden bowl is described in early inventories as a “high porcelain bowl decorated with leaves and blue ship motifs,” and remains one of the seminal surviving examples of early Ming export porcelain in European princely collections.
Reference:
The above mentioned example in the collection of August the Strong is illustrated by Eva Ströber in 'La Maladie de Porcelain. Ostasiatisches Porzellan aus der Sammlung Augusts des Starken. East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of Augustus the Strong', pp. 16-17, no. 1, inventory no. P.O. 3226.
Another comparable pair is in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, Turkey, one illustrated by R. Krahl and J. Ayers, 'Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul', vol. II, 1986, p. 61, no. 1103 (ref. nos. TKS 15/2614,2624).
Provenance:
Jorge Welsh, London/Lisbon, with their label to the base.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above in 2006 and accompanied by a copy of their documentation folder. (see added scan)