KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

The present vase is unusually imposing, with its tall, columnar neck, but also shows the lively illustrative style of Kangxi blue and white wares on the body, with a depiction in one continuous scene of ladies galloping during a rabbit hunt. A vase of related form in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, but with the body divided into three sections, each depicting scenes from The Romance of the Western Chamber, is illustrated by Sir Michael Butler and Wang Qingzheng, Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collection, Hong Kong and London, 2006, pp. 2586-287, no. 105. Another related vase, but with a slightly tapering neck and decorated with continuous landscapes, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated by Chen Run Min (ed.), Qing Shunzhi Kangxi Chao Qinghua Ci (Blue and White Porcelain from the Shunzhi and Kangxi Periods), Beijing, 2005, pp. 416-417, no. 270.