WHAT: When Sotheby's opened its series of Asia Week auctions in New York earlier this month, the first sale, focused on Ming Dynasty masterpiece ceramics, realized $11.3 million. Top lot was a white-glazed, Anhua-decorated, Tianbai-glazed Meiping vase with rounded shoulders about 12.5 inches high.
MORE: Westerners can find it hard to grasp subtleties of Eastern aesthetics, so let us explain why this vase is so fine and rare.
The Ming Dynasty lasted 300 years. During the Yongle reign (1403-1424), white porcelains from the Imperial kilns were highly prized. The glaze here is "Tianbin" (sweet white) over white porcelain that is finely incised with peony scrolls, buds and blossoms. A writer of the time described the glaze as "white like congealed fat, immaculate like piled-up snow." The technique is subtle, and that's the point.
SMART COLLECTORS KNOW: "Meiping" refers to the quintessential Chinese vase shape (the vase silhouette is considered perfection) and the subtle incised designs that feature peonies.
HOT TIP: Produced for Imperial use only and valued also by Ottoman and other contemporary royalty, most "sweet white" wares that survive are smaller and decorated with less desirable lotus designs.
BOTTOM LINE: Delayed one day when Sotheby's closed because of a snowstorm, the sale proceeded the next day with a packed salesroom and lively bidding in person and on the phones. All top 10 results came from Asian bidders, with one "anonymous."
