Lot 3317. An extremely rare coral-red enamelled leys jar, zhadou, Zhengde six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1506-1521). Estimate HK$300,000 – HK$500,000 ($38,801 - $64,669). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

 The vessel is finely potted with a compressed globular body rising from a low foot to an elegantly flared mouth. The exterior is enamelled in thick, rich coral-red which stops neatly below the mouth and at the foot. The interior and base covered with a transparent glaze. 4 3/16 in. (10.6 cm. ) high, box

Provenance: Madame Maurice Solvay, Paris 
Frederick J. and Antoinette H. van Slyke, sold at Sotheby's New York, 31 May 1989, lot 76

Exhibited: Royal Academy of Arts, International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, 1935, Catalogue, no. 2705 (fig. 1)
Christie’s London, An Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, 1993, p. 57, Catalogue, no. 21

The current lot illustrated in International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Art, London, 1935, no. 2705

Notes: It is very rare to find a monochrome Zhengde-marked vessel in the form of a zhadou, although there exist examples of this form decorated in underglaze blue or overglaze green and yellow enamels. Compare with a blue and white vessel in the National Palace Museum, included in the exhibition, Ciqi Shang de Longwen, Dragon Motifs on Porcelain, 1983, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 23; and a green and yellow enamelled example illustrated in Chinese Porcelain: The S. C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, part I, Hong Kong Museum of Art, no. 68.

Christie's. THE IMPERIAL SALE / IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART, 1 June 2016, Convention Hall