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24. RARE ‘BAMBOO AND PEONY’ YINGQING
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The body is of wide pear-shape carved with ogee-shaped panels at the sides; the neck is applied with bamboo-section ribs. The handle is incised with lines, again suggestive of a bamboo stem. High relief peony sprays are carved in high relief into the sugary body, one on each face. The base of the spout is carved with a demon mask rising from the body within the panel and inscribed to one side with Jiangshi, a maker’s mark. Indented lozenges are carved into the footring. The glaze is of sky blue tone, pooling slightly in the recesses of the relief decoration. This vessel appears to be unique and is particularly notable for the sculptural carving of the peony design and the demon mask at the foot of the spout. The distinctive colour of the glaze and the scheme of decoration indicate the likelihood of an early Yuan date for this piece. The peony spray already has a closer resemblance to the lush blooms which feature on so many classic Yuan blue and white upright and open vessels, but in the form of scrolls. Two examples, one painted on a blue and white meiping with combed details, in the Ataka Collection, the other in the centre of a dish with moulded cavetto and reserve-decorated, are published in Taoci Daxi, Yuan Blue and White, vol. 41, pls. 38 and 53. A very rare yingqing meiping of the same period carved with a high relief peony scroll of less sculptural quality is published by Brian McElney, Inaugural Exhibition, vol. 1, Chinese Ceramics, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, catalogue no. 131, where the author draws a parallel with the designs found on Longquan celadons. |
