A RETICULATED BLUE AND WHITE STONEWARE EWER, LÊ DYNASTY, LATE 15TH CENTURY, FROM THE HOI AN HOARD
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published: Jean-Paul Desroches (ed.) et al, Two Americans in Paris: A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, p. 207, no. 330 (part-lot).

Exhibited:
1. Pointe-à-Callière Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Montréal, 17 November 2016-19 March 2017.
2. Kimbell Art Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Fort Worth, Texas, 4 March-19 August 2018.

Vietnam, Hai Duong province, Chu Dau kilns. Heavily potted, the pear-shaped body rising from a flaring foot to a waisted neck with an everted rim, set with a long, upturned handle and elegantly curved spout. The body applied with two reticulated panels, of teardrop form, depicting a stylized parrot amid foliage. The sides meticulously painted in cobalt blue with a pair of cranes soaring among flowerheads and scrolling tendrils, framed above by a band of stiff plantain leaves and below by lotus petals. The handle and spout further decorated with swirling clouds. The panels, unglazed to reveal the buff-colored ceramic underneath, highlighted with red pigments.

Provenance: Recovered between 1997 and 1999 from the Hoi An Hoard Shipwreck Site, Vietnam. The base with an excavation label, ‘Saga Hoi An Hoard Visal, 6951’. Butterfields, San Francisco, California, USA. The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France, according to the Myers ledger acquired from the above on 5 November 2000.
Condition: Good condition with surface wear and inherent firing irregularities, including light pitting, occasional dark spots, and minor fissures around the handle. Expected traces of usage. Scattered minor nicks and few small chips. The glaze intentionally crackled, as is to be expected from this type of wares. The applied panels with distinct remnants of red pigment.

Weight: 880.8 g
Dimensions: Height 23.7 cm

The form of this elegant ewer was probably imported from the Chinese tradition, originally inspired by West Asian metalwork. Although heavily influenced by the Chinese ceramic tradition, Vietnam materials and potting styles are unique. Technically not ‘porcelain’, these stonewares are different in appearance from Chinese and other Southeast Asian ceramics as they are typically more heavily potted and have an off-white clay body.

During the fifteenth century, when Ming-dynasty China closed its ports and introduced export bans on ceramics, the Vietnamese ceramic industry flourished. Potters, especially those located near the small village of Chu Dau in the Red River Delta, produced thousands of wares for export to regions as far west as Egypt and as far east as Japan.

This ewer was cargo on a teakwood junk, a type of boat with Chinese origins, defined by a high stern and projecting bow, that sank during the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century near the Cham Islands in the South China Sea. The boat, which likely originated in Thailand, was heading toward the Philippines and was heavily laden with ceramic cargo. It likely fell victim to the treacherous sea currents or to a typhoon. Seventy meters (nearly 230 feet) below the surface, the boat lay underwater, undisturbed until 1993, when Vietnamese fishermen from Hoi An accidently recovered ceramics with their nets. The fishermen attempted to keep the shipwreck a secret. However, after they strategically dragged metal rakes across the wreckage, hundreds of ceramics were broken and dislodged, thereby floating into other fishermen’s nets, and ultimately flooding the art market. It was not until 1997, when two Japanese dealers were detained in the Da Nang airport with baggage filled with fifteenth-century pottery that the Vietnamese government obtained knowledge of the wreck’s exact location and enlisted the expertise of both archaeologists and the Ministry of Culture.

In 1997, the Vietnamese government secured the assistance of the Vietnamese National Salvage Corporation (VISAL); Saga Horizon, a Malaysian marine engineering company; and Oxford University’s Marine Archaeology Research Division. The scientific study of the wreckage depended upon an advance team with cutting-edge technology, as the extreme depth of the wreck and the dangerous currents made it impossible for archeologists to conduct standard air dives. Managed by marine archeologist Frank Pope, led by the Oxford’s esteemed marine archeologist Mensun Bound, and financed by Singaporean businessman Ong Soo Hin, the team executed three complex, risky excavations that cost nearly fourteen million dollars. Between 1996 and 1999, the team ultimately recovered nearly three hundred thousand artifacts.

Once retrieved from the floor of the South China Sea, all artifacts were inventoried, tagged with an excavation sticker that noted the excavation partners and the unique object number, and stored in three huge warehouses. Vietnam’s National History Museum retained all ‘one-of-a-kind’ objects, and the Ministry of Culture distributed hundreds of ceramics to regional museums. The remaining inventory of artifacts was sent to Butterfields, an American auction house based in San Francisco and now owned by Bonhams. The three-part auction of the ‘Hoi An Hoard’ took place from October 11 to October 13, 2000, both live and online, using eBay’s innovative live auction technology. Indeed, this was a groundbreaking event, as it was one of the first auctions to happen both digitally and in person. Collectors, however, were simply not ready to buy works of art online, as nearly sixty percent of the lots did not sell. On December 3, 2000, Butterfields hosted another sale that featured pieces from the Hoi An Hoard. This sale provided a rare opportunity for avid ceramic collectors to purchase important pieces of Vietnamese material culture at reasonable prices, as museums had already purchased major pieces in the October sale.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related reticulated, blue and white stoneware ewer with flowers and birds, Vietnam, Lê dynasty, 1450-1550, 23.5 cm high, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, accession number 000227N000000000. Compare a closely related reticulated, blue and white stoneware ewer, Vietnam, Lê dynasty, 15th-16th century, 23.5 cm high, in the Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, accession number 1997-02257.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Zacke Vienna, 11 September 2025, lot 186
Price: EUR 23,400
Description: A reticulated blue and white ewer, Lê dynasty, late 15th century, from the Hoi An Hoard
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, color of the glaze, and decorative style. Note the similar size (23.9 cm) and the provenance, as this lot was formerly part of the Sam and Myrna Myers Collection.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Paris, 10 December 2020, lot 97
Price: EUR 12,500 or approx. EUR 14,500 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A blue and white enameled stoneware vase, Vietnam, c. 16th century
Expert remark: Compare similar form, decoration, and motifs. Note the larger size (29.2 cm).