Chinese Porcelain Blue And White Ko-sometsuke Water Container, Tianqi/chongzhen, Ming Dynasty

A small Chinese blue and white ko-sometsuke water container.
Tianqi/Chongzhen period, circa 1630.

The small water container of compact ovoid form with rounded shoulders rising to a short cylindrical neck, painted in underglaze blue with a broad central register divided into four panels, each enclosing the auspicious character ji (吉), reserved in white against dense geometric diaper grounds. The shoulder decorated with auspicious motifs, while the neck is encircled by a continuous scroll. A band of stylised waves encircles the lower body above the unglazed foot.

The character ji (吉), meaning ‘auspiciousness’, ‘good fortune’ or ‘happiness’, conveys wishes for prosperity and favourable circumstances. The combination of auspicious characters with densely worked geometric grounds is particularly associated with late Ming blue and white porcelain made for the Japanese market.

A closely related blue and white tea bowl, likewise dated to the Tianqi/Chongzhen period, circa 1630, is illustrated by Marchant. It is similarly decorated with ji characters reserved within stylised lotus-shaped panels against alternating geometric diaper grounds. Marchant notes that the design and geometric grounds appear to anticipate the group of wares traditionally known in Japan as shonzui. Although the precise origin and significance of this term remain debated, it generally encompasses a range of finely made Chinese porcelains produced for the Japanese market, often characterised by strong underglaze blue, geometric patterns and auspicious or figural motifs. The present vessel belongs to this wider tradition of ko-sometsuke wares produced at Jingdezhen for the Japanese market during the final decades of the Ming dynasty.

Height: 7.3 cm

Ref (see two last photos):
A blue and white tea bowl with closely related decoration, likewise dated to the Tianqi/Chongzhen period, circa 1630, is illustrated in S. Marchant & Son, Ming Porcelain for the Japanese Market: Ko-sometsuke & Ko-akai, 2008, p. 22, no. 6. The bowl is similarly decorated with ji (吉) characters reserved against alternating geometric diaper grounds.

Marchant further refers to a double-gourd vase decorated with the same ji characters against four different geometric grounds, illustrated in S. Marchant & Son, Two Hundred Years of Chinese Porcelain, 1522–1722, June 1998, no. 49, p. 64.

Condition:
Excellent condition, with minor superficial wear

Provenance:
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium.

Worldwide registered and insured shipping.

Inv. No.: MW420