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Lot Essay
The subject matter of boys was especially popular during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor. The emperor was particularly concerned with producing male heirs. It was recorded in the Ming Shi, 'Ming History', that he commissioned a Daoist ritual to take place in the Imperial Garden in the eleventh year of this reign (1532) for the intended purpose of praying for the birth of imperial sons. 'Boys jars' were good auguries for the emperor and highly regarded, thus were decorated with superior cobalt blue, as seen on the current jar.
A jar of this design with a cover was excavated in 1980 in Chaoyanqu, Beijing and is now in the Shoudu (Capital) Museum, Beijing. It is illustrated in Shoudu Bowuguan Zangci Xuan, pl. 121. Another such jar is in the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, while a third, formerly in the Charles Russel and in the Mrs. Alfred Clark collections, is in the British Museum, illustrated by D. Lion-Goldschmidt and Moreau-Gobard in Chinese Art, pl. 195. One jar from the Osaka Museum, also without a cover, is illustrated in Ming and Qing Ceramics and Works of Art, p. 20, no. 1.59. Others are in the museum of Decorative Arts, Copenhagen, illustrated by D. Lion-Goldschmidt in La Porcelaine Ming, Office du Livre, 1978, pl. 134, no. 124; the Idemitsu Museum, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, pl. 191; and in the Fengchengxian Museum, Jiangxi province, illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Cidian, p. 393, no. 766.
Other jars of this design include one from the J. M. Hu collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November, 2007, Lot 1738; and another example, originally in the collection of the Manno Museum of Art, Japan, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2019, lot 3104.
Examples with slightly different variations of the 'boys' design include one in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, vol. V, pl. 13, pp. 46-47; an example from the Wingfield Digby collection was sold at Sotheby's London, 3 December 1974, lot 284; another in the Freer Gallery of Art, Oriental Ceramics, vol. 9, Kodansha series, 1975, no. 111; and one sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 14 November 1989, lot 31.
A jar of this design with a cover was excavated in 1980 in Chaoyanqu, Beijing and is now in the Shoudu (Capital) Museum, Beijing. It is illustrated in Shoudu Bowuguan Zangci Xuan, pl. 121. Another such jar is in the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, while a third, formerly in the Charles Russel and in the Mrs. Alfred Clark collections, is in the British Museum, illustrated by D. Lion-Goldschmidt and Moreau-Gobard in Chinese Art, pl. 195. One jar from the Osaka Museum, also without a cover, is illustrated in Ming and Qing Ceramics and Works of Art, p. 20, no. 1.59. Others are in the museum of Decorative Arts, Copenhagen, illustrated by D. Lion-Goldschmidt in La Porcelaine Ming, Office du Livre, 1978, pl. 134, no. 124; the Idemitsu Museum, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, pl. 191; and in the Fengchengxian Museum, Jiangxi province, illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Cidian, p. 393, no. 766.
Other jars of this design include one from the J. M. Hu collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November, 2007, Lot 1738; and another example, originally in the collection of the Manno Museum of Art, Japan, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2019, lot 3104.
Examples with slightly different variations of the 'boys' design include one in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, vol. V, pl. 13, pp. 46-47; an example from the Wingfield Digby collection was sold at Sotheby's London, 3 December 1974, lot 284; another in the Freer Gallery of Art, Oriental Ceramics, vol. 9, Kodansha series, 1975, no. 111; and one sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 14 November 1989, lot 31.