A SET OF THREE QINGBAI-GLAZED ALTAR VESSELS Yuan Dynasty Comprising a pair of baluster vases each moulded in mirror images with rabbits amongst blossoming flowers, the shoulders set with loop handles, and a tripod incense burner of oblong hexagonal section with moulded scrolling decoration, all raised on matching integral stands with four ruyi-head feet mounted on a stretcher, and all covered in a translucent pale blue glaze. The largest 14cm (5 1/2in) high. (3). Footnotes: Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 元 青白釉連座香爐及供瓶 一組三件 Provenance: John Drew (1933-2006), England (collector's notes) Acquired from R & G McPherson Antiques, London, June 2007 (collector's notes) Published and Illustrated: M.White, People at the Whites' House: Ceramics from the Mary and Peter White Collection, vol.5, n.p, 2024, p.107 來源： John Drew (1933-2006)，英格蘭（藏家筆記） 獲得于倫敦古董商R & G McPherson Antiques，2007年6月（藏家筆記） 著錄： M.White，《People at the Whites' House: Ceramics from the Mary and Peter White Collection》，第5冊，無出版地，2024年，第107頁 John Drew (1933-2006) was born in Tideswell, Derbyshire, and educated at Sedbergh School and the Queen's College, Oxford. He spent the majority of his professional career as an archivist in various African countries, before taking up a post at the University of Cape Town in 1978. His collection of Chinese ceramics encompasses pieces from the Neolithic period through to the eighteenth century. See R.Davids & D.Jellinek, Provenance: Collectors, Dealers and Scholars: Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America, Oxford, 2011, p.157. For ritual vessels such as incense burners and vases, a separate stand was originally required to raise them for display during offerings. Shaping and firing the incense burner or vase together with its stand as a single piece, as exemplified by the present lot, was a form that became especially popular in the Yuan dynasty. The small scale of these qingbai altar vessels, together with their decoration of rabbits, suggests use within a personal or domestic shrine rather than a formal temple setting. In Chinese visual culture, the rabbit is closely associated with the moon and lunar mythology, the most notable example being the Moon Hare, traditionally linked to longevity and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Such imagery would therefore have been particularly appropriate in a private devotional or seasonal context, aligning the refined translucency of the qingbai glaze with themes of purity, moonlight and quiet contemplation. Compare with a related qingbai vase and incense burner, illustrated by A.Joseph, Chinese and Annamese Ceramics Found in the Philippines and Indonesia, London, 1973, pp.28-29, nos.9 and 11. See also a similar qingbai incense burner, in the Palace Museum, Taipei (acc.no.贈瓷000271N000000000). For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing