PLUM FLOWER VASE IN PORCELAIN CALLED FAHUA, MEIPING China,... Lot 89

PLUM FLOWER VASE IN PORCELAIN CALLED FAHUA, MEIPING China, Ming Dynasty, 16th-17th century Heavy dough, flat bottom, tapered belly and curved shoulder from which emerges a short straight neck. It is decorated on its exterior with a continuous decoration structured in superimposed regists and executed in reliefs and recesses. It consists of a pearled frieze encircling the pass, a frieze of ruyi from which monster masks and saphecked cords are hung on the shoulder and a procession of Taoist soldiers and sages in the middle register, the latter evolving on a mountainous background. This decoration comes to life thanks to a colourful palette combining turquoise, yellow and cream enamels, which contrast sharply with the background of a deep purple eggplant. H: 27.3 cm - D: 21 cm Provenance: > Former Collection of John D. ROCKEFELLER Junior (1874-1960), Founder of the Standard Oil Company, philanthropist, donor of the land on which the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan is built; > Joined the Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of New York (MET) upon his death in the 1960s; > Christie's, 13-22/09/2016, Collected in America: Chinese Ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, lot 825. Technical note: The technique of fahua glazes - a word meaning "limited decoration", a kind of "cloisonné" applied to porcelain - consists in placing glazes in areas delimited by rings / edges in a slight protrusion. These last ones are drawn with an alkaline glaze. The colour palette typical of this production combines a deep blue enamel with turquoise, purple, green and yellow enamels. The first occurrences of this production date back to the Yuan Dynasty. It is noted that this technique has been used both in northern China in Shanxi / Shaanxi, and in the south, probably in Jiangxi. Aesthetic note: It is worth noting the potter's mastery in his use of hollows and reliefs which contribute to the naturalistic rendering of the