A BLUE AND WHITE DOUBLE-GOURD VASE Chongzhen The bulbous lower body painted with a scene of a scholar reading beneath a tree within a balustraded garden being approached by a boy-attendant carrying a covered box, the upper section with a landscape scene dotted with pavilions, waterfall and distant mountains, all beneath stylised tulips around the mouth. 28.5cm (11 1/4in) high. Footnotes: Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 明崇禎 青花人物圖葫蘆瓶 Provenance: acquired from Robert McPherson Antiques, London, on 30 March 2020 (collector's notes) 來源：獲得于倫敦古董商Robert McPherson Antiques，2020年3月30日（藏家筆記） Double-gourd vases decorated with tulips reflect the dynamic exchange of motifs between China and Europe during the Chongzhen period. The gourd (hulu), an auspicious symbol of fertility and abundance in Chinese culture, is combined here with the tulip, a flower introduced to Europe from the Ottoman world and rapidly embraced in the Netherlands. By the early seventeenth century, the tulip had become closely associated with Dutch mercantile taste, and its appearance on Chinese porcelain may be understood as a response to European, particularly Dutch, demand within the expanding framework of maritime trade. Indeed, 'gourd flasks' occur in Dutch records from 1637; see a blue and white double gourd vase, Chongzhen, illustrated in Transitional Wares and Their Forerunners, Hong Kong, 1981, p.41 Compare with a related blue and white double-gourd vase, Chongzhen, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 19 September 2023, lot 679. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing