Considered the crowning glory of Chinese porcelain, pieces from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) have been sought by collectors the world over for centuries. The Chinese, in particular, are keen to reclaim a heritage which was purchased or otherwise taken from them during the 18th and 19th Centuries, and the market for the best pieces is very strong.
One such piece came up at auction at Grantham’s Asian Art sale on the 3rd and 4th June. A slender necked blue and white porcelain bottle vase bottle vase excited bidding from Europe and Asia, selling for a hammer price of £6500.
With a slender neck painted with leaves and flaming pearls, and a bulbous body painted with an Emperor and attendants in a landscape, the vase is believed to date to the period of the last Ming Emperor Chongzhen, who reigned from 1611-1644.
Apart from the quality and beauty of the vase, its significance, is that it predates European porcelain by at least fifty years, and is of a perfection, in terms of its fineness that wouldn’t be matched for at least another half a century. Just as European alchemists, for centuries in vane, had tried to convert base metals to gold, so had many individuals tried to discover the receipe for producing true porcelain.
It wasn’t until 1708 that Johann Böttger, working for the Elector of Saxony at the Meissen factory, claim to have discovered the formula. Thereafter, throughout the 18th Century, porcelain factories across Britain and Europe latched on and, finally ceramics became a lucrative commodity in the western world.
