A rare pair of yellow cups. Marks and period of Jiajing

A rare pair of yellow cups. Marks and period of Jiajing. Photo Sotheby's

each of deep shape, with widely flaring rim and supported on a low foot, covered overall with a deep yellow glaze including the base, inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark, wood stands; diameters 12 and 12.2 cm., 4 3/4 and 4 7/8 in. Estimate 4,000,000—6,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 5,780,000 HKD

EXHIBITED: Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, The British Museum, London, 1994.
Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 121.

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 698.

NOTE: This distinctive deep, flared shape represents an innovation of the Jiajing period and was produced almost only in this reign, both in yellow and in dark blue. A similar pair of cups from the Edward T. Chow and T.Y. Chao collections, was sold in these rooms 19th May 1981, lot 452 and 18th November 1986, lot 68. A similar single cup from the Sir Percival David Collection now in the British Museum, London, is published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1989, no. A 595; one from the collection of Mrs. B.Z. Seligman and Sir Alfred Aykroyd, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Monochrome Porcelain of the Ming and Manchu Dynasties, London, 1948, cat. no. 60, was sold in our London rooms 15th May 1966, lot 36, and at Christie's London, 7th June 2004, lot 281; another from the Hall Family collection, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Iron in the Fire, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1988, cat. no. 60, was sold in our London rooms 26th July 1966, lot 68 and in these rooms 2nd May 2000, lot 506, and is illustrated in Sotheby's. Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, no. 124.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. 07 Apr 11. Hong Kong www.sothebys.com

Yellow cup. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue reign mark, clear and yellow glazes. Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province江西省, 景德鎮. Ming dynasty, Jiajing mark and period, AD 1522–66. On loan from Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. PDF,A.595. British Museum. Copyright SOAS All rights reserved