Page 163 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

on the aforementioned jar in the Shenyang Imperial Two other covered jars with different decoration, but
Palace Museum. The decoration of bats in flight on of this exact shape and comparable height, that have a
the upper border of the present jars, however, imparts neck similar in height to those of the present jars, have
additional auspicious meaning to the decorative also been published. One, dated Yongzheng but with
scheme, and conveys the wish for good fortune. an apocryphal Xuande mark, is decorated in copper-
red and underglaze blue with a main band of phoenixes
The shape of the present jars is similar to that of a amidst peony scroll set between borders of bats and
smaller (14.9 cm. high) Qianlong-marked jar and cover clouds, and a band of key fret encircling the foot, is
similarly decorated with a scene of numerous boys illustrated in Selected Porcelain of the Flourishing Qing
at play, also in the collection of the Palace Museum, Dynasty at the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1994, p. 164, pl.
Beijing, which is illustrated ibid., pl. 146, no. 128. On 8. The other, of Qianlong date, which is carved around
this jar some of the boys play instruments, but the the sides with dragons amidst clouds and has bats
others are involved in different, playful activities, and amidst clouds on the cover, all under a celadon glaze,
the scene is set between ruby-ground, ruyi-head is illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong: Qing
borders. Like the present jars, a band of key fret Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing,
encircles the foot, as well as the neck, which is shorter 1989, pl. 142.
than the neck of the present jars.

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