A rare large blue and white 'shou'-character jar. Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619)

The heavily potted, high-shouldered body decorated with a pattern of shou roundels reserved on a ground of dense lotus scroll with small flowers and scrolling tendrils, above a band of linked ruyi heads at the base, the short neck encircled by an unusual pattern of conjoined lotus buds, the reign mark within a recessed roundel in the center of the base; 18 7/8 in. (48. cm.) high - Est. $120,000 - $180,000

Notes: Several Wanli-marked jars of this type are known. One with its original cover was excavated in the Dongsheng district in Beijing in 1971, and is published in Wenwu, 1972, no. 6, and illustrated on the inside back cover, fig. 3. See, also, the jar with short neck and more tightly painted shou characters with a very loose linked ruyi-head border at the base in the Ardebil Shrine Collection, illustrated by T. Misugi in Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East: Topkapi and Ardebil, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 207, A.117. Another Wanli-marked jar of this type in the collection of the Museum Pusat, Jakarta, is illustrated by Abu Ridho in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 3, Tokyo, 1982, no. 226.

For a Jiajing-marked example of this type, with its original cover, in the Qing Court Collection, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - II - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 115, no. 105. A second Jiajing-marked jar from the Jingguangtang Collection, Part II, was sold Christie's, New York, 20 March 1997, lot 79. It is interesting to note that when compared to their Wanli counterparts, the Jiajing examples seem to have very thinly painted shou characters only partially filling the roundels, and a thick solid-line border painted around the foot.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. 15 September 2009. New York, Rockefeller Plaza. Image 2009 Christie's Ltd www.christies.com