A rare Chinese doucai 'Lanca' cup

拍品描述

A rare Chinese doucai 'Lanca' cup, mark and period of Chenghua (1465-1487), with gently flared sides rising from a slightly tapered foot to a flared rim, the exterior finely painted in the doucai style featuring a vibrant decoration of Sanskrit 'Lanca' characters, each character supported by a large lotus bloom, the base inscribed with a six-character chenghua mark in a double square, 5.8cm highProvenance:By repute previously acquired from the Orientique Gallery, Hong Kong, between 1990 and 2010Amongst the storied ceramics of the Ming Dynasty, the small cups and tea bowls produced for the Chenghua Emperor represent the absolute zenith of Chinese porcelain. The term doucai ('contrasting' colours) refers to the intricate technique where overglaze enamels are delicately applied within fine underglaze blue outlines. This technique is masterfully executed on the present cup, which features eight Lanca (Sanskrit) characters, each cradled by a vibrant lotus blossom in a palette of iron-red, yellow, and cobalt blue. These are set amidst a lyrical scroll of flower buds and verdant foliage, underscored by a continuous band of polychrome lingzhi-the fungus of immortality.The present 'Lotus and Lanca' motif is of a significantly higher order of rarity during the Chenghua period. Compare a very similar fragmentary Chenghua cup recovered from the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, included in the exhibition A Legacy of Chenghua: Imperial Porcelain of the Chenghua Reign Excavated from Zhushan, Jingdezhen, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. C101. The present lot is in similarly reconstructed condition and of an appearance nearly identical to the excavated example. Also see a complete cup in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition Chenghua ciqi tezhan/Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain Ware, 1465-1487, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2003, cat. no. 168. 明成化 斗彩梵文小杯「大明成化年制」款拍品來源：1990年至2010年間購自香港Orientique畫廊 品相： completed restored

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