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Lot Essay
Probably copying a European metal form, and closely related to a jar of similar form in the Fundaçao Medeiros e Almeida, Lisbon, which instead of flowers bears the emblems of Christ's Betrayal, Crucifixion, Passion and Descent from the Cross, this jar, and the few known examples of similar form and design, were probably made for use in religious services by Portuguese Jesuits in Macau. An almost identical jar to the present lot, formerly in the Franks Collection, now in the British Museum, was exhibited Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics, Taibei, 1994, catalogue no. 6, p.24, and is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 12:61, p. 376. The jar in Lisbon with Christian emblems mentioned above was exhibited in Du Tage à la Mer de Chine, Palàcio Nacional de Queluz and Musée Guimet, Paris, 1992, exhibition catalogue no. 75 (Queluz catalogue no. 77), p. 160, and in Reflexos, Simbolos e Imagens do Christianismo na Porcelana Chinesa, Museu de São Roque, 1996, exhibition catalogue, no. 10, p.72. A very similar, slightly smaller, jar sold in these Rooms, 11 July 2006, lot 174.