A finely painted blue and white brushpot, bitong, Transitional period, ca. 1640. © Christie's Image 2003

The very slightly waisted sides vividly painted in brilliant tones of underglaze blue with an elaborate continuous scene of a procession of armed dignitaries and officials approaching a scholar prince seated languidly against a rail contemplating fish swimming in the lake of a mountain palace retreat, the scene set between lightly incised bands of floral scroll at the mouth rim and stylized waves at the base - 7 3/8in. (18.5cm.) high. Lot 304. Estimate $8,000 - $12,000. Price Realized $57,360 

Provenance: Max Robertson Collection, A-168-G.
Christie's, New York, 2 December 1982, lot 454.

Notes: Compare the blue and white brushpot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, with very similar decoration, and possibly by the same hand, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, rev. ed. 1989, col. pl. 30. 

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza