CHINESE MING DYNASTY WANLI PERIOD PORCELAIN BOTTLE VASE On both sides of this pear-shaped bottle is an elaborate floral decoration painted in a thick white slip, the design standing out from the surface that is coated in a thick russet-brown glaze. As is so often the case with bottles of this age, the upper neck and mouth have been broken and lost; as such porcelain bottles were expensive and precious objects, it was often the practice for such losses to be replaced with a metal collar, typically silver in the case of blue & white porcelain, but this particular example has been fitted with a copper collar that suits the colour of the glaze very well. Wanli period (1572-1620). 20.75cm tall Reference: two very similar bottles are in the British Museum collection and are illustrated and described in the fine book "Ming Ceramics in the British Museum". Provenance: the late Brian Page (1938-2018), the well-known Oriental art and antiques dealer from Brighton.