Lot 3698. A fine blue and white 'chrysanthemum' jar, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Estimate 700,000 — 900,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,625,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

well potted with an ovoid body rising to a gently rounded shoulder and surmounted by a tapering neck, the exterior of the body decorated in rich cobalt tones with four medallions, each modelled in the form of four chrysanthemum blooms encircling a central large one and decorated with foliate scrolls, all between bands of swirling petal lappets and upright leaves, the countersunk base with a six-character reign mark within a double-circle; 13.8 cm, 5 3/8  in.

Notes: A slightly larger jar of this design, with its matching cover, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the Museum’s Special Exhibition of K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung porcelain Ware from the Ch’ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 28.

Jars decorated with chrysanthemum medallions are more commonly known painted in the doucai palette; see for example a jar painted with medallions of two chrysanthemums separated by floral sprays, illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics, vol. IV, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 145; and another sold twice at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st May 1994, lot 692, and 3rd November 1998, lot 957.

Sotheby's, Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 05 oct. 2016