Lot Essay
Compare the pair of blue and white jars and covers of very similar design, but without the lappet band at the foot, in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, vol.8, pl.247, and by D. Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Ceramics, New York, 1978, no.183, p.187 (colour plate); this pair of jars was given to Queen Christina of Sweden by the Portuguese Embassy in 1640. A smaller very similarly decorated jar is illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, 1976, vol.14, p.307, fig.218. A smaller jar bearing a Wanli mark and decorated in wucai enamels is in the Muse Guimet, Paris, illustrated by Lion-Goldschmidt, ibid., pl.194, p.197, also illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, 1981, vol.7, colour pl.26.