Page 78 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

VARIOUS PROPERTIES
1628
A LARGE BLUE AND WHITE JAR
MING DYNASTY, LATE 15TH-16TH CENTURY
The globular jar has a slightly fared mouth and splayed foot, and is fnely decorated with the Eight Daoist
Immortals (baxian) amidst trees and rocks, between a band of ruyi heads enclosing Eight Buddhist
Emblems (anbaxian) on the shoulder and a band of petal lappets above the base, all below trellis pattern on
the neck.
13 ¬ in. (34.5 cm.) high, Japanese wood box

$30,000-50,000

The present jar is related to a group of large blue and white jars and meiping of ffteenth-sixteenth
century date, painted in a style commonly referred to as ‘windswept’, depicting scenes of fgures in
landscapes or garden settings which are taken from traditional literature and popular drama. The
panoramic landscape scene is comparable to handscroll paintings of the early Ming period.

A comparable jar, shown with cover, decorated with the Eight Immortals as well as fgures playing
weiqi, is illustrated in Panoramic Views of Chinese Patterns, Tokyo, 1985, no. 50. Two other jars painted
in the ‘windswept’ style, but without the incorporation of the Eight Immortals, are illustrated in Sekai
Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, nos. 35 and 36. The form, as well as the decorative design seen on the
present jar is perhaps more reminiscent of fahua jars dating to the ffteenth-sixteenth centuries, such
as the fahua jar from the E. T. Chow Collection, decorated with the Eight Immortals, with similar lappet
band at the foot and ruyi-form cartouches on the shoulder, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 December
2010, lot 3118.
明十五/十六世紀 青花八仙罐

(another view)
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