A blue and white conical cup, Chongzhen period, circa 1640

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Blue-and-White, Chongzhen period, circa 1640, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, conical cup, Zhang Qian

A blue and white conical cup, Chongzhen period, circa 1640. Estimate $8,000 – $12,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The cup is of rounded, conical form and is decorated on the exterior with a scene the Han statesman Zhang Qian reclining in a log raft in a moonlit river. The mouth rim and the pointed base of the cup are unglazed. 4 ¼ in. (10.8 cm.) diam. Lot 3529

Provenance: Ambassador R. Meyer.
V. Ashenbach.
Lindberg Collection.
S. Marchant & Son, London.
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1984.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., Exhibition of Chinese Blue and White-Wanli to K’ang Hsi, London, 1980, no. 51.

Exhibited: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, Exhibition of Chinese Blue and White-Wanli to K’ang Hsi, 13-25 July 1980.

Notes: Zhang Qian was a Han dynasty imperial envoy and traveler. He is more usually seen depicted on rhinoceros horn ‘log-raft’ cups and carvings of Kangxi date, such as the example sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 4162. The rhinoceros horn cups are thought to have been inspired by earlier silver prototypes such as the one in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, dated to the 14th century and another formerly in the collection of Sir Percival David and now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, dated to the Ming dynasty, probably 16th century. Both of these are illustrated by J. Chapman in The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, p. 263, nos. 382 and 283, respectively. It is rare to find this subject as decoration on porcelain.

A rare small rolwagen decorated with this subject, from the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated by Sir Michael Butler and Wang Qingzheng in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collection: Beauty’s Enchantment, London, 2006,p. 141, no. 37, where it is noted that “Zhang Qian from the Western Han dynasty was famous for going to the Western region and promoting cultural and economic exchanges between the East and the West. Legend says that he had been to the headstream of the Yellow River, in order to regulate the water and to avoid future flooding”. By accident he found himself floating along the Milky Way (River of Heaven). From there he caught sight of the Weaving Main and the Cowherd, who were forced to be separated by the Milky Way and can only cross once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month, when a bridge is formed by magpies.

Another example decorated with this subject, a rare ovoid jar from the Transitional period, was sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1682.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Eight small blue and white dishes, Chongzhen period, circa 1643

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'The Romance of the Western Chamber', Blue-and-White, Chongjiao Bei Xixiang Ji, Chongzhen period, circa 1643, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, Li Zhuowu, The Collated Story of the Western Wing, Tianqi Period, Woodblock illustration, Wuxing, Xi Xiang Ji

Eight small blue and white dishes, Chongzhen period, circa 1643. Estimate $12,000 – $18,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

Each small dish has a foliate rim and is delicately decorated with a different narrative scene from The Romance of the Western Chamber and other literary sources. The reverse of each is decorated with a continuous river landscape and is inscribed with an apocryphal Jiajing mark on the base. 3 ½ in. (8.9 cm.) diam. Lot 3516

Provenance: The Property of Captain Michael Hatcher; Christie’s Amsterdam, 14 March 1984, lot 200 (part), lot 201 (part).
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, “Transitionware Made Plain: A Wreck in the South China Sea,” Oriental Art, Volume XXXI, No. 2, Summer, 1985, pp. 169-170, figs. 13, 16,17, 18 a,b.
Colin Sheaf and Richard Kilburn, The Hatcher Porcelain Cargoes, The Complete Record, London, 1988, p. 66, pl. 97 (four).
Julia B. Curtis, “La porcelaine chinoise de Transition,” La porcelaine chinoise de Transition: et ses influences sur la céramique japonaise, proche-orientale et européenne, Geneva, 1993, no. 7.

Notes: This interesting group of dishes is decorated with a variety of scenes that most likely derive from popular novels, as well as one generic scene with a scholar and attendant, and one showing four immortals. Two scenes can be directly compared to woodblock illustrations from The Romance of the Western Chamber. The small dish with two ladies in a garden depicts the heroine Yinying offering incense in honor of her deceased uncle. (fig. 1)

Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Xi Xiang Ji (Romance of the Western Chamber). From an edition published at Wuxing in the Tianqi period (1621-1627), from Craig Clunas, “The West Chamber: A Literary Theme in Chinese Porcelain Decoration,” Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1981-82, p. 76, pl. 9.

Another direct comparison can be drawn between the small dish decorated with a lady seated on a garden rock beneath a tree and a woodblock illustration with the scene known as ‘Repudiation of the billet-doux’. (fig. 2)

Fig. 2: Woodblock illustration to Chongjiao Bei Xixiang Ji (The Collated Story of the Western Wing), commentary attributed to Li Zhuowu, 1598.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

An inscribed and dated blue and white jar and cover, Chongzhen period, dated 1644

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Blue-and-White, Chongzhen period, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, dated 1644, inscribed and dated jar and cover, Peach Blossom Spring, Tao Yuanming, Taohua yuanji, Xie Fangde

An inscribed and dated blue and white jar and cover, Chongzhen period, dated 1644. Estimate $18,000 – $25,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The compressed jar, with short neck, is decorated on one side with a panel containing a scene from the ‘Peach Blossom Spring’ in which the fisherman speaks to a sage and his servant. The other side is decorated with a panel containing a long inscription from a poem entitled ‘Peach Blossoms at the Qingquan Temple’ written by the Song-dynasty poet Xie Fangde (1226-1289), followed by a cyclical date, jiashen, corresponding to 1644, and a seal that reads Koujiao Shanren (‘The Mountain Man who Knocks the Buffalo’s Horn’). The jar is pierced with two holes on either side between the panels for attachment of metal handles. The domed cover is decorated with peony and prunus branches surrounding the metal knob which is secured through a hole in the center. The flat base is unglazed. 7 ¾ in. (19.7 cm.) diam. Lot 3508

Provenance: Anita Gray, London, 1996.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Rosemary Scott, « Blue-and-White Porcelains of the Late Ming-Early Qing, » in A Catalogue of Oriental Ceramics and Works of Art, ed. Anita Gray, London, n.d., pp. 23-24, no. 2.
Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661,Alexandria, VA, 2002, pp. 184-185, no.54.

Exhibited: Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 2 May – 8 September 2002.
The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, Texas, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 3 October 2002 – 5 January 2003.
University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, Virginia, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 25 January – 23 March 2003.

Notes: The theme of the decoration on this lidded jar is one which would have greatly appealed to the literati – poetry and patriotic loyalty. The image on the jar refers to Peach Blossom Spring (Taohua yuanji) the famous poem by Tao Yuanming (AD 365-427). The story goes that in the Taiyuan period (AD 376-396) of the Jin dynasty there was a fisherman from Wuling in Hunan province who one day followed the stream in his boat for so long that he forgot how far he had gone. Suddenly he came to a place where blossoming peach trees were crowded along both banks of the stream. The fisherman followed the stream to its source at the foot of a mountain, where both the stream and the peach trees came to an end. He left his boat and walked through a hole in the rocks and into a beautiful, verdant land with plentiful food and happy people. When he eventually left to return home, the people told him not to tell anyone about their land. The fisherman eventually managed to find his way home, and did tell the people of his village about the beautiful land he had seen, but, try though they might, they never found the way back to the Peach Blossom Spring. On one side of this jar the fisherman is shown meeting one of the residents of Peach Blossom Spring.

On the other side of the jar is an inscription from a poem entitled Peach Blossoms at Qingquan Temple by the Song dynasty patriot and poet Xie Fangde (1226-1289), in which the poet compares his own life with that of the characters in Peach Blossom Spring. Xie Fangde served the Southern Song well, but failed to successfully defend Xinzhou against the Mongol armies. Afterwards he refused to serve the Mongols and in 1286 was sent north to Dadu (modern Beijing). He was imprisoned in a temple where he starved himself to death. This temple was originally built in AD 645, and when rebuilt in the 15th century was called Chongfusi (Temple of Exalted Happiness), but it has also been known as the Minzhongsi (Temple in Memory of the Loyal) and was renamed Fayuansi ( Temple of the Origin of the Dharma) in 1743. [This temple may also be the Qingquan Temple [Clear Spring Temple] named in the poem.] Xie Fangde’s story would have resonated with Ming loyalists as the dynasty fell to the Manchus in the year this jar was made.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A blue and white brush pot, Chongzhen period, circa 1640

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Blue-and-White, brush pot, Chongzhen period, circa 1640, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms

A blue and white brush pot, Chongzhen period, circa 1640. Estimate $30,000 – $40,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The brushpot, of slender cylindrical form, is decorated on the exterior with a scene from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms depicting the general Lu Xun on horseback, enveloped by billowing clouds, meeting with the scholar Huang Chengyan beneath a willow tree, all between finely incised scroll borders. The flat base is unglazed. 6 ½ in. (16.5 cm.) high – Lot 3512

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 1989.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century: Landscapes, Scholars’ Motifs and Narratives, New York, 1995, pp. 102-103, no. 34

Exhibited: China Institute Gallery, New York, Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century: Landscapes, Scholars’ Motifs and Narratives, 22 April – 5 August 1995.

Notes: Lu Xun was a general and politician in the state of Eastern Wu. After the Battle of Xiaoting, he found himself lost in Zhuge Liang’s Stone Sentinel Maze, which was an arrangement of rocks and boulders conjured up by Zhuge Liang based on the concept of the ancient bagua. In the scene on this brush pot Lu Xun is shown meeting the scholar Huang Chengyan, who leads him out of the maze. Huang Chengyan had a daughter, Huang Yueying, who later married Zhuge Liang.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A rare blue and white sleeve vase, Chongzhen period, circa 1640

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Blue-and-White, Chongzhen period, circa 1640, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, sleeve vase

A rare blue and white sleeve vase, Chongzhen period, circa 1640. Estimate $40,000 – $60,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The vase is of elongated cylindrical form and decorated in rich tones of cobalt blue with a dynamic, continuous hunting scene depicting four equestrian huntsman, one possibly the Tang dynasty Emperor Ming Huang (Xuanzong), having already shot the crane pierced with an arrow above, as two others attempt to catch the prey and the fourth equestrian gallops along with a fifth huntsmen on foot in pursuit of an elusive deer, all beneath leafy floral scroll bands at the shoulders and waisted neck, and above a lappet band at the foot. 16 in. (40.6 cm.) high – Lot 3532

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1987.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, “La porcelaine chinoise de Transition,” La porcelaine chinoise de Transition: et ses influences sur la céramique japonaise, proche-orientale et européenne, Geneva, 1993, no. 5.

Notes: This extremely handsome vase represents the apogee of narrative painting on porcelain at the end of the Ming period. The vessel itself is strongly potted and the continuous scene that encircles the main body of the vase is well painted in deep, rich, underglaze cobalt blue. The narrative scene shows four huntsmen mounted on galloping horses. One huntsman swings a flail, a handle to which a ball on a chain is attached, while another fires a bow and arrow in the ‘Parthian shot’ position – facing backwards and firing over his horse’s rump. This shot, which takes its name from Parthian cavalry, who used it to great effect when in retreat, required great skill from the rider who had to twist his body around, control his horse with his knees alone, and keep both hands steady to fire his arrows, while the horse galloped at full speed. This huntsman appears to have shot a crane, which is depicted with wings outstretched and its body pierced with an arrow. Another of the mounted huntsmen reaches up with arms outstretched towards the bird, while a fourth holds out a circular tray on which he obviously hopes to catch the falling bird. There is a further archer on foot aiming his arrow at the deer which is being chased by the mounted huntsman brandishing the flail.

It is almost certain that this scene represents a story about the Tang dynasty Emperor Xuanzong (AD 685-762), who is often referred to by his posthumous name, Ming Huang. It is believed that Emperor Xuanzong went hunting in Shayuan on the day known as the ‘double ninth’ – the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. This day usually falls in October by the Gregorian calendar, and is thus in autumn. It is significant that the elegant trees shown on one side of the vase are depicted almost completely stripped of their leaves, suggesting that the scene takes place in the latter part of the year. While hunting on the ‘double ninth’ Emperor Xuanzong reportedly shot a lone crane flying in the mountains. However, despite being pierced by the arrow, the crane continued on its flight towards the southwest with the arrow still lodged in its body. Many years later the Emperor visited a Daoist monastery near Yizhou – present day Chengdu in Sichuan province. While he was there he found his arrow, and realised that he had in fact shot a Daoist immortal.

This theme would have appealed to 17th century literati as it has been suggested that the story of Emperor Xuanzong and the crane may have inspired one of the best-known works of one of China’s most esteemed literary figures, Su Shi (AD 1037-1101). Su Shi wrote two prose poems on the Red Cliff. It was believed that at the Red Cliff, some 900 years prior to Su Shi’s visit, that Cao Cao (AD 155-220) a powerful military and political figure in the latter part of the Eastern Han period and during the Three Kingdoms period was defeated by the armies of Liu Bei and and Sun Quan. Cao Cao is believed to have written the poem known as Short Song Style in the winter of AD 208 shortly before the Battle of the Red Cliff. In the first of Su Shi’s prose poems one of his companions on the convivial moonlight boat trip to visit the Red Cliff plays melancholy flute music reflecting his sadness at recalling Cao Cao’s defeat, but is cheered by Su Shi’s philosophical discourse on the inevitability of change. It is, however, in the second of the Red Cliff prose poems that the possible influence of the story of Xuanzong and the crane can be seen. This second work recounts another visit to the Red Cliff, three months after the first – and nearer to the time of year when Xuanzong shot the crane. There is a heavy frost and the landscape appears rather bleak. Su Shi leaves his guests in order to climb to the top of the cliff and sits, increasingly melancholic, until forced to return to the boat by the intense cold. Shortly before midnight a lone crane flies in from the east and swoops over the boat before heading towards the west. That night Su Shi dreams of a Daoist immortal in feathered robes, who asks him about his visit to the Red Cliff. Su Shi enquires as to the Daoist’s name, but he does not answer, and when Su Shi awakes there is no sign of him. Su Shi realizes that the crane he had seen at the Red Cliff had in fact been the immortal.

Rosemary Scott, International Academic Director, Asian Art

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A large blue and white bombé-form censer, Chongzhen period, circa 1640

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Blue-and-White, bombé-form censer, Chongzhen period, circa 1640, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, Luohan

A large blue and white bombé-form censer, Chongzhen period, circa 1640. Estimate $40,000 – $60,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The compressed censer is decorated around the exterior with a scene of the Eighteen Luohan engaged in various pursuits in a mountainous river landscape beneath a chrysanthemum scroll encircling the waisted neck. 13 ¼ in. (33.5 cm.) diam. Lot 3531

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1987.

Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: Luohan (also known as arhan or arhat) are Buddhist enlightened beings who act as worldly conduits to the state of infinitely expanded consciousness granted by their enlightenment. Numbers vary in Buddhist iconography, but a group of eighteen was eventually established as the standard Chinese grouping which became popular in later Chinese art, appearing in a wide variety of media. For a blue and white Kangxi period brush pot decorated with this scene see lot 3574. The present censer depicts the eighteen in various small conversational groupings, painted in rich tones of underglaze blue.

In her note to a blue and white censer decorated with the Eighteen Luohan and dated 1644/45 (illustrated by Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little, in Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661,Alexandria, VA, 2002, pp. 218-219, no. 71) Dr. Curtis places the subject within the context of the 17th century. She notes, “The depiction of the Eighteen Lohans became a popular theme with painters of the late sixteenth century such as Wu Bin and Ding Yungpeng, both of whom were Buddhists from gentry families who earned their livelihoods as painters. During the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Chinese Buddhism underwent an important period of doctrinal change, particularly the syncretism of Chan with Pure land sectarianism, and, in society at large, of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. The openness of Buddhism to “the unity of the three teachings” (sanjiao heyi) dignified the religion in the eyes of the scholar-gentry, which may account for the popularity of Buddhist motifs in the decorative arts and in professional paintings of the period.”

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A rare blue and white jar and cover, Chongzhen period, circa 1640

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Blue-and-White, Chongzhen period, circa 1640, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, jar and cover, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms

A rare blue and white jar and cover, Chongzhen period, circa 1640. Estimate $60,000 – $80,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The jar, of well-proportioned compressed ovoid form, is decorated with a continuous scene of an official in a garden setting with a large landscape screen behind and a yoke-back chair draped with a brocade cloth, with attendants holding fans and offerings, and two figures kneeling in supplication. The domed cover is painted with an official and his horse in a landscape, with an attendant offering a cloth-wrapped box. The recessed base and foot are unglazed. 8 ½ in. (21.5 cm.) high. Lot 3536

Provenance: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. S.E. Alleyne, Hong Kong.
Bluett & Sons, Ltd., London, 1988.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Richard Kilburn, Transitional Wares and Their Forerunners, The Oriental Ceramic Society, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 119, no. 77.

Exhibited: The Oriental Ceramic Society, Hong Kong, Transitional Wares and Their Forerunners, 29 January – 29 March 1981.

Notes: The scene on this rare jar almost certainly depicts an episode from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, although the specific scenes are difficult to identify. However, the composition and painting style, especially that of the two figures holding lanterns, can be compared to that seen on the large brush pot in the Curtis Collection (lot 3533). It is likely that the inspiration for the decoration on both vessels may have come from the same illustrated edition of the story, and indeed that the two vessels may have been painted in the same workshop, although probably not by the same hand.

Another rare jar of similar shape with very low-domed cover, also decorated in underglaze blue but with birds perched on flowering branches, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Chen Runmin in Selected Chinese Ceramics from the Palace Museum (Volume 1): Blue and White Ceramics in Shunzhi and Kangxi Periods (Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qing hua ci), Beijing, 2005, p. 70, no. 35.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A superb large blue and white brush pot, Chongzhen period, circa 1640

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Blue-and-White, brush pot, Chongzhen period, circa 1640, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, San Guo Zhi Yan Yi, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms

A superb large blue and white brush pot, Chongzhen period, circa 1640. Estimate $100,000 – $150,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The sturdily potted brush pot is of cylindrical form and is decorated on the exterior in rich tones of underglaze blue with a continuous scene from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms depicting Emperor Xian and Dong Cheng. The landscape extends around the other side of the vessel to show a painterly view of mountains rising from rolling waves, all between incised bands of foliage and waves. The flat base is unglazed. 8 1/8 in. (20.5 cm.) high. Lot 3533

Provenance: Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1984.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century: Landscapes, Scholars’ Motifs and Narratives, New York, 1995, pp. 144-145, no. 61.
Julia B. Curtis, « La porcelaine chinoise de Transition, » La porcelaine chinoise de Transition: et ses influences sur la céramique japonaise, proche-orientale et européenne, Geneva, 1998, no. 3.

Exhibited: China Institute Gallery, New York, Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century: Landscapes, Scholars’ Motifs and Narratives, 22 April – 5 August 1995.
Asia Society, New York, The Artful Recluse: Painting, Poetry, and Politics in 17th-Century China, 6 March – 2 June 2013 (not illustrated).

Notes: The painting of the scene on this brush pot is particularly fine and is taken from the historical novel San Guo Zhi Yan Yi (The Romance of the Three Kingdoms), attributed to Luo Guanzhong, and first published in the 14th century. It purports to chronicle events from AD 169 to 280, which was a particularly turbulent era in China’s history, encompassing the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. It is regarded as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, and is a mammoth work of some 800,000 characters, with a cast of almost 1,000, mostly historical, dramatis personae in its 120 chapters.

The episode that appears on this brush pot depicts Emperor Xian (r. 189-220), who is being held as a virtual hostage by the warlord Cao Cao, and is shown handing over a belt to the loyal Dong Cheng in the presence of Cao Cao’s spies. Inside the belt is hidden an imperial edict written in blood. Later in the story, Dong Cheng enters into a conspiracy with Liu Bei, Zhong Ji and Wang Fu to assassinate Cao.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Christie’s to sell 17th century porcelains from the Collection of Julia and John Curtis

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Blue-and-White, brush pot, Chongzhen period, circa 1640, circa 1680, early Kangxi period

NEW YORK, NY.- As a highlight of New York Asia Week, March 2015, Christie’s will present an important private collection of superb Chinese porcelain. An Era of Inspiration: 17th-Century Porcelains from the Collection of Julia and John Curtis will feature 95 lots, each vividly showcasing the talent and creativity of the 17th-century porcelain artisans. A one-day symposium will also take place during the sale preview.

Combining superb quality and sophisticated connoisseurship, the Curtis Collection of 17th-century Chinese porcelains provides a unique window into the exciting period of porcelain production in China between the fall of the Ming dynasty and the onset of the Qing dynasty. Freed from the confines of imperial restrictions, artisans at Jingdezhen looked to literary sources and printed illustrations that appealed to literati taste and highlighted popular narratives from the past. The period witnessed a closer relationship between works on paper and silk and painting on porcelain, vividly illustrating the skills of porcelain painters who were true artists in their own right. This brief period of unprecedented artistic license resulted in works of unsurpassed creativity and innovation. The exhibition, symposium and sale of this carefully assembled and meticulously researched collection will provide collectors and scholars the unique opportunity to engage with the brilliantly decorated porcelains produced in this short period of time.

A Superb Large Blue And White Brush Pot. Chongzhen Period, circa 1640. 8 in. (20.3 cm.) high. Estimate: $100,000-150,000. Photo: Christie’s Images Ltd 2015.

Julia and John Curtis have assembled this important collection over a period of over thirty-five years. Drawn to each piece first for its beauty as a work of art, the Curtises would then consider its place in the overall scheme of the collection.

A well-known scholar on the subject, Dr. Julia Curtis has published extensively on Chinese porcelain production in the 17th century. She has also curated numerous exhibitions, including two for the China Institute, the first on Chinese porcelains for the domestic market produced between 1620 and the 1690s and the second on wares made in Jingdezhen for the Japanese market between c. 1620 and 1645. Dr. Curtis was also the co-curator with Sir Michael Butler and Stephen Little of the seminal exhibition and publication Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661. She served on the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Board of Trustees for ten years and has been the North American representative of the Oriental Ceramic Society, London, since 1988.

Mr. Curtis has served as a trustee of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts or the VMFA Foundation since 1982. He was President of the Board of Trustees 1988-1992 and Chairman of the Foundation 1998-2004. He was trustee of China Institute in America 1992-2009, and trustee of the Freer-Sackler Galleries 2006-2010. Since 2003 he has been a member of the Visiting Committee of the Department of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A Rare Large Blue And White Vase. Early Kangxi Period, circa 1680, 16 in. (40.6 cm.) high. Estimate: $25,000-35,000. Photo: Christie’s Images Ltd 2015.

Bottle-Shaped Vase with Figures in Garden, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Chongzhen period (1627-1644)

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Bottle-Shaped Vase with Figures in Garden, Chongzhen period, Ming Dynasty, Porcelain painted in underglaze blue

Bottle-Shaped Vase with Figures in Garden, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Chongzhen period (1627-1644). Porcelain painted in underglaze blue. H. 42.7 cm (16 13/16 in.); diam. 20.6 cm (8 1/8 in.). Bequest of Russell Tyson, 1964.703. The Art Institute of Chicago ©2015 The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60603-640