An Important Chinese Export Blue and White 'Royal Family Arms of Spain' Pilgrim Flask, Ming Dynasty, Wanli Period, circa 1610-20

The Peony Pavilion Collection, Japan

Christie's London, June 12, 1989, lot 401

European Private Collection

Sotheby's New York, October 14, 1993, lot 152

Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York (acquired from the above)

Wolf Family Collection No. 1077 (acquired from the above on October 14, 1993)

Antonio Díez de Rivera, 'España y la porcelana de Compañía de Indias', Galería Antiqvaria, no. 176, Madrid, October 1999, p. 60, figs 9 and 10.

When Chinese ceramics first arrived in Europe before the 14th century, they were regarded as objects of significant rarity to be treasured by rulers of kingdoms and empires. Examples of Chinese porcelains in Europe remained extremely scarce until the sea trading routes were established by the Portuguese in the early 15th century. The first European motifs on Chinese porcelain appear to date from the same period, first with examples bearing Portuguese motifs, and by the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the arms of Spain and its rulers.

The present example is from a well-known and extensively researched group of flasks bearing the arms of Castile and Léon quartered by a cross in the center. The reverse of the vases are either decorated with a scholar and attendant, or floral decorations. However the provenance of the present lot is particularly interesting, as it appears to be one of only two examples formerly in a Japanese collection that appeared on on the market in the last four decades. While most scholarship on vases of this type is centered on European influences, a very small select group of these vases appear in Japan, with examples found in the Tokyo National Museum, Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, Kumamoto, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo and Tama Art University, Tokyo.The latter two examples were illustrated and discussed in Nishida Hiroko, ‘Meiji no Seihou Yushutsu (Ming Export Porcelain for the West 明磁の西方輸出)’, Sekai Toji Zenshu: Mei [Ceramic Art of the World: Ming Dynasty], vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, pp 300-301, figs 196-198.

Aside from the armorial side, Nishida makes particular mention of the figural panels on the other side of the vase, and notes the that ‘the other side of these vases are decorated with either floral and leaves pattern, or a landscape figural scene in the manner of ko-sometsuke’ (他の面に草花文を付してものと、古染付風の山水人物文を描いたものがある). The depiction of the scholar panel on the present example is fluid and spontaneous, and is similar to the later ko-sometsuke aesthetic seen on other wares made specifically for the Japanese audience during the Tianqi and Transitional periods. A ko-sometsuke leaf form dish (hirabachi) decorated in the center with a seated scholar holding a fan, is illustrated in Saito Kikutaro, Toji Taikei: Ko Sometske Shonzui [Blue and White Porcelain of the Late Ming Dynasty], Tokyo, 1972, no. 54, and is in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum.

According to the catalogue entry of the present example from Christie’s London in 1989, it was then accompanied by a Japanese wood box, now missing, with inscriptions indicating that it was had been in the Peony Pavilion Collection collection for 150 years, and treasured as one of the most important works in that family collection. While the exact inscription is now unknown, the vase would have featured as an important component of the cha-no-yu, or Japanese tea ceremony, as a hanaike (花生), a flower vase displayed in the tokonoma, a recessed space in a Japanese tea house for receiving guests. The hanaike would have been displayed alongside a hanging scroll to bring the guests into a state of tranquility prior to the beginning of the ceremony, thus the selection of objects placed at the tokonoma is of extreme importance. The other example from a Japanese collection, offered at Christie’s London, May 14, 2007, lot 439, was pictured with a wood box, probably Meiji period, inscribed with Nankin sei Hanaike (南京製花生), meaning ‘flower vase made in a foreign land’.

To be treasured as a family heirloom and used as the most prominent porcelain work in a quintessentially Japanese scholarly and societal pursuit, the current example undoubtedly appealed to tea-masters at the time. It is perhaps difficult to identify today which side of the vase would have faced the guest while it was in use, but it appears unlikely that the arms would have been identified and known as they are today. It is possible that the side with the arms would have been preferred for its abstract geometric shapes and symmetrical design. However, it may also be the case that the seated scholar and attendant in a bucolic landscape perfectly suited the aesthetics of the tea ceremony based on the four principles of wa (harmony 和), kei (respect 敬), sei (purity 清) and jyaku (tranquility 寂), proposed by the most influential tea-master of the time Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) in the 16th century. 

A nearly identical example sold at Christie's London, November 2, 1987, lot 385, entered the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, and is illustrated in William R. Sargent, Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, Concord, 2012, cat. no. 185, pp 348-351. The author identifies and describes three distinct types within this group. Model I is decorated with a seated scholar, and both the aforementioned example and the present lot belong to this group; model II is painted with a standing scholar, with only two examples published, one in the collections of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, inv. OCVO-18-65; and one with the vase slightly reduced and mounted with silver, in the collection of Fundação Carmona e Costa, acc. No. CER 56; and model III, with the reverse depicting floral sprigs, with examples in several important private and public collections. 

In past literature, scholars such as Michel Beurdeley, David Howard and John Ayers have considered this group as bearing the personal arms of King Philip II (1527-1598) of Spain and Portugal, or his successor King Philip III (1578-1621) of Spain, and consequently dated the vases to circa 1585. It was further suggested that the design originated from a coin from circa 1580, coinciding with the time of Philip II’s rule of Portugal. As the Portuguese developed vast trading routes earlier in the century, Philip II would have utilized these routes to commission a vase of this type in China bearing his personal arms. This theory was further supported by the existence of Philip II’s vast Chinese porcelain collection numbering over 3000 objects. 

However, recent scholarship has disagreed with this dating and attribution. Rocío Díaz in Chinese Armorial Porcelain for Spain, 2010, London, pp 74-77, agrees with scholars who suggested that while it is possible that the original designs derived from a coin, the most probable source design would have been the half-real silver coin minted during Philip II’s reign. Díaz also states that bottles of this form were not found among Philip II’s inventory of Chinese porcelain, possibly dispelling the theory that these would have been made for Philip II. Sargent, on the other hand, suggest that it is possible that the design derived from arms painted on a map or book binding, and notes that a pair of canons fabricated in Mexico City in 1604 in defense of Manila were seen to have the same arms but surmounted by a crown. Sargent further adds that without definitive proof, connoisseurship is called upon on the dating of this group, and compares the scholar and attendant to typical designs of the late Wanli period (1572-1620). He theorizes that there may have been multiple orders based on the varying decorations and quality of painting, of which both the Peabody Essex Museum example as well as the present lot, would be considered part of the earlier order due to the more refined decoration.

The apparently early provenance of such vases in Japan, and their ko-sometsuke manner of decoration, perhaps begs another question: Were vases with these arms not all necessary part of a specific commission or delivery, but that the arms became a motif assimilated by the Chinese porcelain painters and used on vases exported more widely?