CHINE, DYNASTIE MING, ÉPOQUE JIAJING (1522-1566)

A closely related blue and white 'magic fountain' ewer bears a reign mark of the Jiajing period (1522-66). This fountain motif has been established by the American scholar Linda Schulsky Pomper as being of Christian origin. In any case the popularity of this motif in the Middle East is supported by the fact that there are several of these ewers in the collection of the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul and another from the collection of the Ardebil Shrine, now in Tehran, (Ayers and Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul, London, 1986, p.655, no.1015; Firouz Bagherzadeh, Oriental Ceramics: The world’s Great Collections, vol.4, col.pl.61). The methods by which these porcelain collections were amassed though do not suggest that the ewers were made as special commissions for the Middle Eastern market. Some of the ewers in Istanbul now have locally made metal mounts mostly dating to the 17th century which were made to embellish further this sought after import. A close example in the Victoria & Albert Museum comes from the Bloxam Collection, accession no. 105-1928. A similar ewer also with later Ottoman mounts was sold at Christie's, London, 15 November 2000, lot 229. More recently a close example was sold at Christie's, New York, 25 September 2020, lot 5559.