A rare blue and white 'Peony' jar, guan, Yuan dynasty. Estimate 1,000,000 — 1,500,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

of baluster form, superbly potted with wide swelling shoulders gently tapering to a slightly flared foot, surmounted by a short upright neck with lipped rim, deftly painted with a broad scroll of six large peony blooms, each differently rendered with a luxuriant array of petals, borne on the same undulating scroll with attendant buds and foliage, the shoulder encircled with a band of leafy scrolling lotus, and the foot with a band of petal lappets enclosing pendent foliate trefoils and rings, painted to the neck with a band of turbulent breaking waves, the jar covered overall with a transparent glaze slightly tinged to blue, the broad foot ring and recessed base unglazed, Japanese wood box. Height 11 in., 28 cm

Provenance: Sotheby's Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 15th March 1983, lot 2003.

Notes: In its shape, design and painting style, the present vessel is an archetypal example of 14th century blue and white porcelain. In contrast to the more restrained and fluid Song style, Yuan dynasty ceramics are striking for their three-dimensionality and complex surface design. Elaborate narrative and floral designs, many derived from woodblock prints and textiles, became the decorative standard of the period. The bold painting conformed beautifully and effectively with the strong, large scale forms favored by the Mongols. It represents the final stage of the gradual alterations in proportions of the shape known as guan, in which the neck became more distinctive, the shoulders broader and the body expanded to make the vessel appear stable and balanced. The powerful profile of this guan, with its dramatic swelling of the body that is at its widest just above the middle, is highly attractive. Although the form was developed earlier and can be found in Song wares such as Longquan celadon, Qingbai and brown-glazed Cizhou-type wares, the Yuan guan presented a new aesthetic image with its striking blue and white decorative scheme. 

The painting seen on this jar encompasses the most characteristic elements of Yuan porcelain design: the peony scroll, wave border, lotus scroll and lappets. This lively new decorative vernacular was particularly well-expressed in underglaze blue. The vast trading networks of the Yuan dynasty ensured rapid transmission of styles and tastes throughout the empire. Persian traders supplied the kilns at Jingdezhen with cobalt ore from Kashan providing the vibrant blue for which the period is known. Demand for blue and white guan was considerable from its initial manufacture, not only in China but in Southeast Asian and particularly in the Middle East. 

Guan of nearly identical decoration include one in the Shangxi Provincial Museum illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan.Taoci juan, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 551; one in the Shanghai Museum published in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl 23. Others of the same type include one sold in our London rooms, 7th June 1988, lot 211A, and another with a composite flower scroll around the shoulder sold in these rooms from the collection of Charles A. Dana, 20th September 2000, lot 101. A variant of the present jar has a border of blackberry-lily around the neck. An example of this type is in the Palace Museum, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 7, no. 6. Another is illustrated in Toji Taikei, vol. 41, Tokyo, 1974, no. 27.  A third example of this type, excavated in 1979 from Yenjialiang village, south of Baotou and in the Collection of Inner Mongolia Museum, Huhehaote, is illustrated in Empires Beyond the Great Wall, The Heritage of Genghis Khan, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 1994, p. 137, fig. 89. 

Blue and white 'Peony' Guan, Shanghai Museum, Taipei.

Blue and white 'Peony' Guan, The Palace Museum, Beijing. 

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor – Ceramics, New York, 17 mars 2015, 10:00 AM