QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Jars of this form in blue and white are extremely rare, as they are more commonly found in monochrome glazes and applied with bands of bosses and a pair of mask-form handles. For a nearly identical Qianlong-marked blue and white barrel-form jar, see an example sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1581. It is also interesting to compare with a small blue and white garden barrel-form stool (25.1 cm. high) dated to the Kangxi to Qianlong period in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, illustrated in Cornelius Osgood, Blue and White Chinese Porcelain - A Study of Form, New York, 1956, no. 56, which shares a similar floral decoration but with the addition of applied bosses.