Lot 308
308
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
A BLUE AND WHITE BALUSTER JAR, GUAN

Details
A BLUE AND WHITE BALUSTER JAR, GUAN
15TH CENTURY

Painted in the windswept style with Shoulao seated playing weiqi with two of the Star Gods, the Eight Daoist Immortals painted in a continuous line around the body nearby, including Li Tieguai with his mythical toad and staff; He Xiangu with her lotus spray; Cao Guo Jin with his castanets; Han Xiangzi with his flute; Lancaihe with her basket; Zhang Gon Lao with his bamboo tube drum; Lu Dongbin with his sword; and Zhong Liquan with his fan, all set within a landscape of rockwork, pine and bamboo between a band of breaking waves at the foot and lotus at the shoulder, the neck with ruyi heads and cloud motifs, neck chip and some polish, two neck cracks - 12 1/4 in. (3l cm.) high

Lot Essay

A blue and white guan dated to the 15th century, painted with two ladies playing weiqi, is illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Shogakukan series, vol. 14, pl. 36, and also in Min no sometsuke, Heibonsha, 1979, vol. 42, pl. 4. Compare also a jar dated to the Chenghua period (1465-1487), similarly painted with figures but between stiff leaves rather than waves and lotus, illustrated by Geng Baochang, Ming, Qing, Giqi Jianding, Mingdu Bufen, pl. 78