A blue and white 'fruit' vase (Yuhuchunping), Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period

Collection of Samuel H. Minkenhof (1879-1956), and thence by descent.

Chinese Ceramics. From the Prehistoric Period through Ch'ien Lung, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1952, cat. no. 280.

The present vase is a rare example of its type, remarkable in its close adherence in style to its fifteenth century inspiration. The Yuhuchunping or ‘Jade bottle spring vase’ is among the most celebrated forms to be produced in Chinese ceramics, reaching its zenith in the early Ming dynasty, decorated with vibrant designs of cobalt blue. With a delicate truncated neck and voluptuous lower belly, the present form is typical of Ming prototypes and adorned with a spellbinding decoration of fruiting sprays and classic scrolls. These designs, themselves deeply rooted in the innovations of the Yongle (1403–1424) and Xuande (1426–1435) kilns, lend the vase an ineffable sense of proportion and balance, not unsurprisingly mistaken for a Ming original when encountered before the advent of rigorous archaeological data.

While other vases of related Ming-style designs are not infrequently attested in the eighteenth century, produced for imperial and scholar-official contexts, it is exceedingly rare to find an example of such ‘Ming-like’ quality. Compare a related yuhuchunping attributed to the Yongzheng period and adorned with fruiting sprays, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 20th March 1990, lot 589; another of Qianlong mark and period imitating the famous ‘garden’ yuhuchunping of the Yongle period, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2010, lot 2773; and a possible Ming prototype of related fruit spray design, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji / The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 12, Shanghai, 1999, pl. 9.