MING DYNASTY, MID-15TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE BLUE AND WHITE JAR, GUAN
MING DYNASTY, MID-15TH CENTURY
Of baluster form, painted in 'windswept' style with two groups of warriors approaching a bridge from either side, on one side the soldier is followed by an official, while on the reverse one of the three soldiers is dismounted and shown carrying a gift, all below clouds in a landscape setting, and between a band of petal tips below and a band of waves crashing against mountains on the shoulder, each of the four mountains centered by a character, shou shan fu hai, all below a band of diaper on the neck
14¾ in. (37.5 cm.) high

Exhibited

On loan: Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama.

Lot Essay

The characters, shou shan fu hai, represent the wish, 'May you live as long as the Southern Mountains and may your good fortune be as deep as the Eastern Sea'.

Compare this jar to others painted in the same 'wind-swept' style illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, nos. 231-2, middle and bottom rows, which also show figures on horseback accompanied by attendants in landscape settings.

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