KANGXI-YONGZHENG PERIOD (1662-1735)

The design on the current jar is inspired by Chenghua prototypes. A Chenghua jar of this design is illustrated together with a Kangxi version by Geng Baochang in, Ming Qing ciqi jianding (Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelains), Hong Kong, 1993, col. pls. 37 and 38. Another Chenghua jar from the Percival David Collection, now housed in the British Museum, London, is published together with a Qing dynasty jar from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, by Yeh Pei-lang, Beauty of Ceramics: Gems of the doucai, Taipei, 1993, nos. 135 and 136.

According to the palace archives, in the fourth month of Yongzheng seventh year (1729), the Emperor ordered wooden models to be made based on a pair of Chenghua wucai jars. The models were then sent to Nian Xiyao in Jingdezhen in order to fire vessels in imitation of those Chenghua jars. The current lot is possibly one of the jars made under the special request by the Emperor to emulate Chenghua wares.