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Lot Essay
This beautiful jar is decorated on the exterior with four cartouches, each depicting scholars and their attendants in leisurely pursuits in nature.
An identical jar is in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 100 (fig. 1). Another example with a cover is in the Hakone Art Museum Collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu – vol. 14 – Ming, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 73. A third example was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 23 March 2004, lot 639.
This impressive jar is vividly decorated with the intense cobalt blue seen on the finest imperial porcelains of the Jiajing reign.
According to the chapter on ceramics (Taoshu) in the Jiangxisheng Dazhi (Annals of Jiangxi province, compiled by Wang Zongmu between 1556 and 1597) there were three types of blue pigment used on Jiajing porcelains. One was pitang blue from Leping in Jiangxi, another was shizi (stone blue) from Ruizhou, and the last, most precious, was the so-called hui qing, 'Mohammedan' blue from the West, some of which entered China through Turfan, Xinjiang province.
As noted in the Jiangxisheng Dazhi, the hui qing blue was very precious and would probably have been used only for imperial porcelains. However, it had a slight tendency to run in the glaze during firing, and so was usually mixed with a small amount of shizi blue to counteract this problem. It is likely that a combination of blue pigments was used to paint the current jar, which displays vibrant colour combined with excellent control.
An identical jar is in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 100 (fig. 1). Another example with a cover is in the Hakone Art Museum Collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu – vol. 14 – Ming, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 73. A third example was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 23 March 2004, lot 639.
This impressive jar is vividly decorated with the intense cobalt blue seen on the finest imperial porcelains of the Jiajing reign.
According to the chapter on ceramics (Taoshu) in the Jiangxisheng Dazhi (Annals of Jiangxi province, compiled by Wang Zongmu between 1556 and 1597) there were three types of blue pigment used on Jiajing porcelains. One was pitang blue from Leping in Jiangxi, another was shizi (stone blue) from Ruizhou, and the last, most precious, was the so-called hui qing, 'Mohammedan' blue from the West, some of which entered China through Turfan, Xinjiang province.
As noted in the Jiangxisheng Dazhi, the hui qing blue was very precious and would probably have been used only for imperial porcelains. However, it had a slight tendency to run in the glaze during firing, and so was usually mixed with a small amount of shizi blue to counteract this problem. It is likely that a combination of blue pigments was used to paint the current jar, which displays vibrant colour combined with excellent control.