The baluster vase with small neck is painted with six fruiting branches of peaches, persimmon, pomegranates and lychees (or perhaps cherries) round the body with double lines above and below, the shoulder with lotus lappets, the lower part with overlapping stiff leaves. The underglaze blue has a typical “heaped and piled” effect, and the unglazed base has a slightly recessed centre.

This is one of the most beautiful examples of early Ming porcelain. There are other examples in Taiwan, Tokyo, Tehran (the Ardebil Shrine Collection) and the Percival David Foundation at the British Museum. A former owner of this vase, Archibald Brankston, died in Hong Kong in January 1941 aged only thirty-one, having written in 1938 his pioneering work Early Ming Wares of Chingtechen. The vase must have been bought in 1952 from his sister, Mrs. Winifred Roberts, at about the same time as she had given some pieces to the British Museum.

Literature: Chun Cai, ‘Ming Dynasty Meiping, early 15th century’, in R. Foster (ed.), Fifty Treasures from Winchester College (London, 2019), pp. 58-59; Anthony du Boulay, The Duberly Collection of Chinese Art at Winchester College (Winchester, 2019), pp. 22-23

Exhibited: Oriental Ceramic Circle, Ming Blue & White, 1946, no. 39

Provenance: Bequeathed as part of the Duberly Collection in 1978; purchased by Major Montagu and Lady Eileen Duberly from John Sparks, 9 October 1952 (£130); formerly in the collection of A.D. Brankston (1909-1941)

Location: Treasury, Gallery 2