A blue and white Meiping vase "lotuses and peonies", Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)

The magnificent and stylized vase starts from a small mouth with a characteristic bent edge and short neck, which sits on broad, sloping shoulders that taper downwards, designing a slender, long, slender belly resting on a slightly wider, short foot that forms a fine curve.

This beautifully rounded, smooth and sinuous style had a great impact on Chinese ceramics and laid the foundation for the later designs of vases made in the official kilns during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The piece is covered, down to the foot, with a thick, shiny white glaze that serves as a canvas for the fine brushstrokes made with the characteristic vibrant cobalt-blue pigment with a high concentration of iron that make this piece so special. These enamels are characterized by their translucency, which allows them to be applied in thin layers that give greater depth and realism to the whole, even resembling the Chinese watercolour technique. In contrast, the base is unglazed, leaving the porous finish of the ceramic visible, which has acquired a slightly ochre hue.

This cobalt-blue pigment from imports from West Asia was used extensively throughout the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) in the kilns of Jingdezhen.

The Yuan dynasty was characterized by the development of new techniques used in pottery such as underglaze painting, modification of clay recipes for a finer and lighter finish, and the use of overlapping blue and white colours, as opposed to the solid tones used in earlier periods such as the Song or Tang dynasties. These new styles and techniques initiated during the Yuan dynasty continued to be used and refined in later periods.

The decoration of the vase runs the entire length of its structure, divided into a total of five sections that use the characteristic double blue border as a separation. This complex composition allows each of the themes to stand on its own and establishes a hierarchical sense of decoration without interrupting the overall view of the composition.

While the mouth and neck are undecorated and reveal the elegant white background, the upper part of the shoulders is elaborately decorated with the eight treasures, each inscribed in a cartouche and arranged on a beautiful and delicate cloud.

This is followed by a border profusely decorated with twisted intertwining branches full of fine leaves ending in lotus flowers in various stages of blossom.

The belly, which is notable for its great width and delicate brushstrokes, contains a beautiful motif of four intertwined peonies in full bloom arranged in the centre, shown from different angles with great realism, accompanied by twining branches, delicate leaves and tendrils that complete the elegant composition. In Chinese culture, the peony has a great significance associated with wealth and good fortune.

This is followed by a fine border of herbs arranged in scrolls full of dynamism. Finally, the last section, from the end of the belly to the beginning of the foot of the vase, has a vertical orientation and is composed of long cartouches framing traditional cloud-headed "ruyis", elements from the motifs that decorated the silk textiles used during this period.

Height: 42.8 cm; Diameter: 23 cm.

Provenance:

- Important private collection from the Karabeyoğlu family for generations. Currently owned by Dr Meltem Karabeyoğlu.

Born in Turkey and educated in the UK and Iraq, where she received her PhD from the University of Baghdad. In the 1990s he managed numerous German companies specializing in metallurgy and shipbuilding in various Iraqi regions until 1997 when he became chairman of Karabeyoğlu Enterprises, an oil and mining conglomerate that was also involved in UN-sponsored agricultural irrigation projects and arms production for national defence. Dr. Meltem Karabeyoğlu, is also noted for her work as a philanthropist, patron of international art and history exhibitions and for her impressive collection of antique works and Asian ceramics dating to the family's heyday during the Ottoman Empire.

Catalogue note:

Attached thermoluminescence test from the CIRAM laboratory. The results obtained indicate that the object was made between the 13th and 14th centuries. The results are consistent with the presumed period of this piece.

References: 

- Sotheby's: Fine Chinese ceramics & works of art (07, Apr. 2010) Lot 1894.

- Exemplar currently in the Jingdezhen Museum of Chinese Ceramics. 

- Christie's: The Tianminlou Collection (30, Nov. 2023) Lot 2701.

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