Pouring vessels of this spouted bowl or ladle form, known as yi, probably derive from metal prototypes. Similar vessels appear in a wall painting dated to 1269 and among a set of silver goods in a hoard from c. 1333. They were used in conjunction with yuhuchunping (pear-shaped vases) and wine cups. Ceramic versions are found decorated in a variety of techniques, including some of the earliest examples of underglaze blue porcelain from Jingdezhen.

This piece is one of a number of blue and white pouring vessels of similar size, shape and decoration, all of which have a coiled scroll lug beneath the spout, a floral scroll around the interior of the bowl (usually chrysanthemum) and lotus lappets containing stylised flowers on the exterior. The central medallion of this example is painted with a lotus bouquet. A near-identical design appears on a bowl sold Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2019, lot. 137. Other bowls from the group have central medallions variously decorated with ducks, wading birds, rabbits and flowers.

Blue and white porcelain began to be produced at Jingdezhen around 1330, using supplies of cobalt pigment imported from Persia. Few pieces from the fourteenth century can be precisely dated by inscriptions or archaeological context, but the stylistic development of early blue and white is now reasonably well understood. The painting of this bowl, and its shape, suggest a period of manufacture within the first few decades of the new technique.

 

Exhibited: ‘Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)’, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, no. 133; ‘The World in Blue and White’, Oriental Ceramic Society, 2003, no. 47; ‘Collectors, Curators and Connoisseurs’, Oriental Ceramic Society, 2021, no. 77

Literature: Jean Gordon Lee, ‘Some Pre-Ming Blue & White’, Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, Vol VI (1952), pp. 33-40, pl. 3; John Ayers, ‘Some Chinese Wares of the Yuan Period’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 29 (1954-55), p.75, fig. 32; Sherman E. Lee and Wai-Kam Ho (eds), Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) (Cleveland, 1968), p. 21, no. 133; R. Kerr et al., The World in Blue and White (London, 2003), p. 22; Sarah Wong and Stacey Pierson (eds.), Collectors, Curators, Connoisseurs: a century of the Oriental Ceramic Society 1921-2021 (London, 2021), pp. 220-21; Sarah Wong, ‘Collectors, Curators and Connoisseurs: a Century of the Oriental Ceramic Society 1921-2021’, Arts of Asia (Winter 2021), pp. 43-44

Provenance: Jean Gordon Lee (1916-1997); with S. Marchant & Son, 1980s-90s, where purchased by Professor Desmond Laurence (1922-2019), no. 127; S. Marchant & Son, London, 15 March 2002; Anthony du Boulay