17th-Century Chinese Transitional Wine Pot
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GUEST:
It's a teapot that I've had for about ten years, and it came from my grandmother. It was always in her house as long as I ever knew behind her favorite chair, where she always sat when we would go and visit. I know it came through my grandfather's family, but I really don't know the history of it. I'm assuming it's a teapot because it's got a spout and it's got something on top, but I mean, it doesn't look like any teapot I've ever seen before.
APPRAISER:
So the first thing that you notice about this is the odd shape, isn't it?
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
As you rightfully say, you don't remember a teapot looking like this.
GUEST:
It doesn't look like a teapot.
APPRAISER:
And that's because this shape is a peach.
GUEST:
A peach, yeah.
APPRAISER:
And this conical appendage at the top, a lotus pod, a lotus shape. So you have a peach form, the handle is in the form of a branch, with these little sprigs of leaves coming out. The same thing here with the spout. So we've got this fruit- decorated, fruit-form vessel with this lotus conical receptacle at the top which actually is where the liquid goes, and then it comes out the spout. Now, why would you have a fruit-form vessel with this big, wide body?
GUEST:
Wow, I just don't know.
APPRAISER:
In Sonoma Valley, what do y'all do here?
GUEST:
Wine.
APPRAISER:
Wine.
GUEST:
So this is a wine vessel?
APPRAISER:
It's a wine vessel.
GUEST:
Oh, my! So not tea.
APPRAISER:
Exactly. The color of the blue varies from various times in history because it is from a mineral called cobalt, which is imported into China. And the imperfections in that blue vary from one period to another as the supplies changed.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The other thing that's a clue is the kind of roughness and irregularity of this conical top and the kind of eccentric and unusual form itself. So that's kind of a freedom that's evidenced in the way the potter treated this material. And then at the base, you'll notice there are these little gaps in the glaze.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
All those are features that are characteristics of the late Ming dynasty.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
Which was around 1644, was when it ended, where there wasn't a lot of control over the kiln sites, so the potters got to experiment and really be expressive and do all kinds of unusual things, and that's what this is evidence of. And that continued past that date, the fall of the Ming, into the Qing dynasty, where they did not really fully exert control over the kiln sites. That wasn't a big concern. They weren't worried about pottery and porcelain.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
They were worried about getting control of the government. So for a certain period of time in the 17th century, there was this really expressive, unusual kind of artistic flowering that took place, and that's where this dates from.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
And we call this kind of a transitional ware, transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And what do you think this is worth?
GUEST:
I have no idea. A few hundred dollars?
APPRAISER:
A few hundred dollars? Well, what if I was to say at auction, $15,000 to $25,000?
GUEST:
(laughing) Oh, my...! Oh. You have to be kidding me.
APPRAISER:
I'm not kidding.
GUEST:
This is really $15,000 to $25,000?
APPRAISER:
$15,000 to $25,000, I'm not kidding you. It's wonderful.
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