A red-glazed Guan jar. Ming Dynasty, Jiajing period - Photo Sotheby's

the baluster body rising to a waisted neck flanked by a pair of bovine mask handles, the exterior covered with a rich vermillion-red glaze pooling into streaks of horizontal layers of darker red, with traces of gilt decoration, the interior glazed white; 31.5cm., 12 3/8 in. Estimation: 60,000 - 80,000 GBP

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: The prototype to this jar, glazed in yellow and attributed to the Hongzhi period (1488-1505), in the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Collection. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 36, together with another yellow-glazed jar of related form but without handles, pl. 37, and a blue-glazed example with loop handles, gilt-decorated with an additional buffalo on the body. The Palace jars retain most of their gilt designs and the trace on the present piece suggests it may have been similarly decorated with horizontal lines encircling the body. 

The style of glazing on this jar, with its layers of vertical streaking, is consistent with that found on other red-glazed wares attributed to the Jiajing reign; for example see a red kinrande stembowl, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 4, pt. I, London, 2010, pl. 1684; and a hexagonal double-gourd vase, formerly in the Eumorfopoulos collection, in the British Museum, London, included in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, pl. 9:70.

White, blue, yellow and red monochromes were made in the Jiajing era and it is thought that porcelains of different colours were assigned to different temples built in this period (see ibid., p. 214).

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. London | 07 nov. 2012 www.sothebys.com