ANTIQUE MING Blue & white medicine jar~Lotus & Thistle

   Up for auction is a blue & white Ming medicine jar from the extensive collection of my late father-in-law John Allen Tabor (see below for provenance).  We are coming to the end of this wonderful collection - now is the time to acquire them. 

   Good color and form, original in the making flaws in body and glaze, no cracks.  Some flaking around mouth - typical for medicine bottles, as part of a prescription was often a bit of the jar, ground up and added to the other ingredients.  2 1/2" in diameter x 2 1/8" tall.

    The pieces in this collection were authenticated by Dr. Aboeridho, Curator Ceramics Section of the Indonesian National Museum, Djakarta, Indonesia at the time of their acquisition in the 1960's.  The majority of these pots were made for export to Thailand, Indonesia, and other countries prominent in that era.  Most of these pieces were still in everyday use when acquired, as the people honored their ancestors and their things.  Even though pieces were sometimes chipped or broken, they were repaired and continued to be used.

   John Allen Tabor, a Foreign Service Officer with the United States Agency for International Development, amassed an impressive collection of more than 900 Southeast Asian ceramics during his second career in Southeast Asia in the 1960’s. Mr. Tabor [1917-1991] was born in Menifee County, Kentucky, and raised on a farm in Winchester, Kentucky. Tabor’s first year as a scholarship student at Wesleyan College in 1934 was cut short when he had to withdraw to help support his family. In 1936 he joined the Navy and was assigned to the Naval Hospital in Washington D.C. as a corpsman. After his tour of service, he joined the Naval Reserve in 1939 and resumed undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland which were interrupted a second time with a call to active duty in 1940.

   Dad's twenty-one year naval career included a variety of assignments in the South Pacific theater during World War II, including China and Japan. He was assigned to the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands in 1945 and as part of the Occupation Army in Japan.

   When stateside, he studied public health and sanitation at six universities before receiving his undergraduate degree in Microbacteriology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1957. He continued with graduate work there in the School of Public Health.

   Dad retired from the Navy in 1961. He joined the Foreign Service and returned to Southeast Asia with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help eradicate malaria in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Collector Tabor’s interest in Asian antiques began as a young man during World War II after acquiring temple relics from a Buddhist priest in China. He spoke many languages, including Chinese, Malay, Thai, Japanese and French. His collecting passion for Asian ceramics was fueled during these years of intense work and travel and Tabor accumulated ceramics from locals, dealers and pickers. His family called him "The Great Accumulator".  Ceramics from Khmer, Vietnam, Thailand and Southern China are represented in Tabor’s vast collection. Forms include bowls, dishes, cups, kendis, figures, water droppers, jarlets, bottles and jugs in monochrome, celadon, overglaze enamels, and blue and white. The majority date from the 11th – 17th centuries.

   Tabor kept meticulous records annotating in a notebook and on a small piece of masking tape affixed to each object, the date of purchase and whatever information known at that time.

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