A Large Blue and White Porcelain Jar, Joseon dynasty (18th-19th century). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Well proportioned with high, rounded shoulders swelling above the tapered lower body and with straight upright neck, painted in medium tones of underglaze blue with two large foliate-shaped medallions of orchids on one side and with autumn flowers and grasses on the other, and ornamented with a cloud collar at the base of the neck and with line bands at the foot and neck; the jar also decorated with a lustrous transparent glaze; 15¾in. (39.9cm.) high. Estimate $350,000 - $400,000

Note: The two flowers chosen for this jar, the orchid and chrysanthemum, are two of the four, with bamboo and plum, that represent the honor and virtue of the literatus. Constant themes in Korean painting, they were adapted to porcelains of the later Joseon period. Delicate yet pliant, the orchid conveys the noble strength of the scholar. Its purity and scent are indicative of the virtue of the recluse. The chrysanthemum's dainty but rugged bloom have similar connotations.

For a similar jar in the collection of the Nihon Mingeikan, Tokyo, see Nihon Mingeikan shozo Chosen toji mokuroku (Catalogue of Joseon-dynasty ceramics in the Nihon Mingeikan) (Tokyo: Nihon Mingeikan, 2009), no. 133; Rhee Byung-Chang, Richo toji Yi Ceramics, in Kankoku bijutsu shusen Masterpieces of Korean Art (Tokyo: Privately published, 1978), no. 211; and G. St. G. M. Gompertz, Korean Pottery & Porcelain of the Yi Period (London: Faber and Faber, 1968), no. 94.

Christie's. Japanese and Korean Art. 20 March 2013. New York, Rockefeller Plaza.