Closely related jars, missing their covers, but bearing Xuande six-character marks and of the period are recorded. Cf. one in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, fig. 137; the other from the Collections of Major Lindsay F. Hay of Bath, later Lionel Edwards, and then Luff, included in the O.C.S. Exhibition, The Animal in Chinese Art, 1968, Catalogue, no. 149; also illustrated in An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, 1980, Catalogue, no. 79; sold in Hong Kong, 29 November 1976, lot 468.

For other vessels painted with the same design of lions and a brocade ball see the small ewer and cover from the Eumorfopoulos and later the Fredeick M. Mayer Collection which sold in our London Rooms, 24 June 1974, lot 91; also the Xuande-marked dish in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, illustrated in The Special Exhibition of Ming Xuande Porcelain, Catalogue, no.59

Lotus leaf covers of this type are found on a number of early Ming guans of this size, for another see the example sold in our London Rooms, sold 10 December 1990, fig. 166 with an elephant finial; another lotus-leaf cover with a dragon finial from the Percival David Foundation, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, vol. 6, no. 101. These appear to have been inspired by the Tang metalwork examples, such as the silver lid excavated in 1982 in Jiangsu Province, from the Zhenjiang City Musem, illustrated in Son of Heaven, Imperial Arts of China, fig. 77