Catalog: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian: Chinese (228)

Pair of matched naturally stressed wooden plaques with “couplet”, encouraging harmony and peace. Traditionally Chinese write to right to left so the meaning of the board on the right encourages one to “admit your mistakes to avoid trouble in the world” while the one on the left, encourages one to “be tolerant, to live in peace”. It has been suggested to me that these may be have been hung in an old Kung Fu studio as this would express the spirit of martial arts...

Rare “sizhi” (four straight sides), inkstone circa Ming Dynasty. Good condition with one small chip noted in last enlargement. Please pay attention to the detail of the carving in enlargements (especially the footrim), the lines are graceful, and understated. A simple, elegant and still completely usable piece. L: 11.6cm/4.5in, H: 2cm/.8in and W: 7.8cm/3.1in.

Charming Ming Dynasty bowl with a pattern of a water buffalos in three different poses, there is hairline crack and gold leaf and lacquer repaired chip. D: 11.5cm/4.5in and H: 4.5cm/1.8in.

Good Ming blue and white porcelain bowl with images of boatmen on a lake. Good condition- no cracks or chips. D: 13.4cm/5.6in and H: 5.1cm/2in.

Unusual example of a Ming glass flower, emulating Nephrite jade, this would have sewn onto a piece of clothing or a hat as a kind of jewelry. This appears to have been cast from a mold, the edges are surrounding by tiny chips- most likely these were cast in groups and cut off from the single sheet. There was lot of dirt on this piece when I acquired it indicating this is an excavated piece, I have cleaned it up the best I could...

Special Offer: Two Ming porcelains- 1# Simple Ming bowl with impressionist depiction of a cobalt blue underglaze vase with flowers. Perfect original condition, with a classic Ming Period “Bi” shaped footrim. There is one small unglazed spot on the edge of the bottom of the rim, this not a chip. D: 9.1cm/3.6in and H: 3cm/1.2in. 2# Lovely small Ming, blue and white jar, very thinly potted with simple floral scroll pattern. Perfect condition, H: 7.4cm/2.9in and D: 6.2cm/2.5in.

Beautiful “Cizhou” type black storage jug with lugs probably used for preserved vegetables, circa Ming Dynasty. A very attractive piece with lovely contrasting black and russet glazes, and paraffin patina throughout. Good example what would have been used in an ancient Chinese kitchen. Perfect condition, except for one very small glaze chip inside the mouthrim, noted in last enragement. H: 18.5cm/7.2in and D: 18cm/7.1in.

Special Offer: Reduced from $250- now $150. Large Ming jar with blue underglaze chrysanthemum pattern and perfect condition. This was fired in Guangdong Province and locally this type is referred to as a “gunpowder” jar although, I don’t know if this was it what it was really used for. Included is a decent wood lid. H: 20cm/7.9in and W: 19cm7.5in.

Quirky Cizhou type, heavy, completely black glazed, waisted beaker from circa Ming Dynasty. Possibly this was used in a Chinese Apothecary, but this is just a best guess to its function. The hole on the bottom was made prior to firing and is part of the original design. Lovely thick glaze and aside from a couple of chips on the outside of the foot, in very good condition. H: 13cm/5.1in- width at base : 8.7cm/3.8in and width at mouthrim : 11cm/4.3in.

Two small Ming jarlets. Sort of wabi-sabi, but no major damage. There are some surface glaze firing cracks and fritting on the mouth rim on the larger jar. Larger jar D: 6.7cm/2.7in and H: 5.3cm/2.1in, smaller jar D: 5.8cm/2.3in and H: 5cm/1.9in.

Good Qing Dynasty, Chinese nephrite jade carving of a lotus seed pod. In Chinese culture this symbolizes fertility and a desire to have many children on another level the lotus reflects purity, strength and rebirth- as it rises from the mud and blooms into something beautiful. H: 3.5cm/1.4in and W: 4.2cm/1.6in x 3.1cm/1.3in. Good condition- no chips or cracks. 61grams.

Wholesale offer: Seven Ming bowls, 6 are already listed on my site (#7365, #7338, #7337, #7328, #7327, #7326) descriptions and enlargements under each catalogue number. The 7th one is in the last two last enlargements- some kiln warpage but no cracks or chips D:13cm/5.1in and H: 6cm/3.2in.

Good large Ming sancai ceramic wedding bed. These were interred in tombs of wealthy individuals to serve them in the afterlife. Nowadays they burn paper replicas instead. This piece has ornate eves in green and amber glaze, no cracks but some minor fritting. It is a large and heavy piece so free international shipping is offered via surface mail, if you would like a faster service than the buyer will pay the additional costs. Personally I have always thought these were ancestor shrines...

Song Dynasty Jun ware brush shaper or brushwasher. This was originally the base of flower vase which was later reworked into a scholar’s object. The brown clay indicates this was fired in Henan and in my opinion is representative of the kind that was acquired for the Imperial Qing collection rather then the more typical bowls and saucers. The top surface has more discoloration and minor scratches which indicates, that the repurposing was done some time ago...

Old Chinese stone ware bottle. This shape is fairly generic and could date anywhere from Jin Dynasty to Ming, so I am taking the middle road and attributing it as Yuan. The mouth is chipped but it has a nice shape, note my photo editing software tend to truncate images, so this piece is more elegant in real life than the photos indicate. The glaze has traces of a paraffin patina. H: 24cm/9.5in and D: 18cm/7in.

Lovely Jin Dynasty circa 1115-1234CE, from a northern kiln, jar with near tea dust colored soy brown glaze, excellent original condition, heavily potted with two lugs. Please note tow subtle russet splashes in last enlargement. D: 10.5cm/4.1in and H: 8.1cm/3.2in.

Fine and rare Longquan classic celadon bottle with an unusual shape- like a truncated meiping. The depth of the glaze achieves the ideal “jade like” quality that is much sought after by celadon collectors. The Ming attribution is conservative based on the inward beveling on the footrim and reddish slip visible on the glazed edge, but Yuan or Song cannot be completely ruled out...

Good Ming blue and white porcelain bowl with abstract coiled dragon medallions. There is a small chip and fine hairline noted in last enlargements. D: 13.8cm/5.4in and H: 5cm/2in.