Previously sold at Christie's London, 14 December 1983, lot 54.

During the Jiajing period, ewers appear to have been popular vessels in both lacquer and ceramic form. A related hexagonal ewer dated to the mid-16th century, decorated in the kinrande-style, is illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 1, Geneva, 1999, no. 94. However, Tixi lacquer ewers of this hexagonal form are extremely rare. The present example, carved of cinnabar lacquer, appears to be unique; the only other known comparable Jiajing period ewer of this shape carved of dark-brown tixi lacquer, from the collection of Professor and Madame Robert de Strycker, was sold at Piasa, Paris, 15 December 2007, lot 56. The Paris ewer, the present ewer and a related double-gourd ewer of dark-brown tixi lacquer in the Beijing Palace Museum, all have a pewter core. The Palace Museum ewer is dated to the mid-Ming period and is illustrated in Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, 2006, p. 255, no. 202 (fig. 1).