Wucai Octagonal Large Jar with Five Dragons, Auspicious Clouds, Sea Waves and Mythical Horses, Marked Wanli Reign of Great Ming, Ming Dynasty (16th–17th Century)

拍品描述

Dimensions: Overall Height 65cm (25.59in), Rim Diameter 31cm (12.20in), Ming Dynasty, 16th to 17th CenturyCondition & Provenance: Category: Ming & Qing Porcelain, primary market destination: New York State. This monumental jar comes from the private collection of Eric Carter, a respected veteran Asian antique collector based in Houston, Texas, USA. It was acquired at Christie’s New York Spring Auction Imperial Ming Porcelain Session back in 2022. The vessel is fully intact, free of hairline cracks, rim chips, deep nicks, or large-scale glaze restorations and touch-ups. Its eight angular faceted body retains perfect shape without warping or sunken ceramic body deformation. The white porcelain body is thick, dense and sturdy, the five-color enamel pigments deliver rich, saturated tones with clean separation between scarlet, emerald green, cobalt blue and golden yellow. All decorative motifs including dragon figures, sea horses, tidal rock formations and cloud scrolls remain sharply defined with no heavy wear erasing outline lines. Natural aged earth patina exists on the inner rim from centuries of storage, the unglazed base foot bears authentic ancient rust-red firing discoloration and inherited surface patina, with no modern grinding, post-firing enamel additions or chemical artificial aging treatments. The six-character reign mark “Made in Wanli Year of Great Ming” is neatly inscribed in cobalt blue regular script within a double-line rectangular frame, the border fully intact and crisp. Full supporting documents accompany the jar: thermoluminescence dating report, formal appraisal letter from a top New York Chinese porcelain specialist, plus the original complete auction purchase invoice.Description: This massive octagonal five-color porcelain jar bearing the Wanli reign mark of the Ming Dynasty stands as a top-tier imperial-style display monument crafted in late Ming China, an extremely scarce large-format Wucai ceramic work surviving to present day. Sculpted into an eight-sided faceted silhouette with softened corner edges, it boasts an imposing, grand silhouette that immediately draws attention in any antique interior display space. The opening is shaped as an octagonal wide mouth; along the neck, a rectangular cobalt blue double border encloses the six-character reign inscription, written in rigid, standard regular script typical of official Wanli porcelain marking. The shoulder and neck band is covered in deep green swirling sea wave ground, populated by multiple galloping cobalt blue mythical sea horses, symbols of longevity and peaceful maritime dominion. The spiral tidal wave detailing is densely rendered with evenly filled enamel. The eight vertical main panels of the jar body are fully decorated with five dragons interspersed with auspicious cloud scrolls, featuring dragons painted in scarlet red, emerald green and cobalt blue. Each dragon bears a fierce, powerful facial expression, finely scaled bodies with layered color filling, sharp, muscular claws, surrounded by flowing wish-granting clouds tinted yellow, red, blue and green. The bold contrast between the five vivid hues perfectly captures the bold, exuberant color aesthetic that defines Wanli Wucai porcelain. A wide band of layered sea waves and sacred mountain rocks encircles the lower jar body, symbolizing everlasting imperial territory stability; the absolute bottom tier holds alternating colored vertical lotus petal panels in red, yellow, blue and white, creating abundant layered visual rhythm. The octagonal flat base is left unglazed, revealing coarse, dry late Ming clay coated in natural dark brown inherited patina and buried soil residue, consistent with authentic large-scale Ming ceramic base characteristics. Wanli five-color porcelain is globally recognized for its dense composition, saturated multi-tonal enamel and unrestrained decorative layout. This octagonal dragon jar integrates multiple layers of auspicious iconography: imperial dragons, sea horse auspicious beasts, tidal landscape and lotus petal borders. The brushwork is bold and confident with precise enamel filling. Monumental intact Wucai jars of this exact form are extraordinarily rare in today’s global antique market. It carries museum-worthy academic research value for late Ming imperial ceramic craft, outstanding decorative display appeal and elite investment collectible merit for American high-end East Asian porcelain collectors, standing as one of the most important surviving examples of Ming Wucai art.

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