MING DYNASTY, LATE 15TH-EARLY 16TH CENTURY

Details

AN UNUSUAL LARGE BLUE AND WHITE DRAGON JAR
MING DYNASTY, LATE 15TH-EARLY 16TH CENTURY
Of heavily potted, baluster shape, painted in rich cobalt blue with a central band of two confronted scaly, five-clawed dragons racing through flames and clouds in pursuit of a flaming pearl, above a band of spume-flecked crashing waves, and below a pair of phoenixes in flight amidst lotus scroll on the shoulder, the rim with silver mount
14¼ in. (36.1 cm.) high, wood stand

Provenance

Collection of Maurice Gavreau, collected in China in the 1920s.

Lot Essay

The painting on this unusual large jar is quite similar in style to that seen on another large blue and white jar of similar shape painted with dragons above a band of waves, dated to the mid-15th century, illustrated in A Collection of Porcelain, Zhejiang Provincial Musuem, 2006, pp. 76-7. Rather than the phoenix and lotus scroll band on the shoulder of the present jar, the published jar has a ruyi collar reserved on a diaper ground, and a band of clouds around the neck. On both jars, the dragons, five-clawed on the present jar and three-clawed on the published jar, are fierce and powerful and the bands of decoration are separated by similar line borders.

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