Lot 182. A large Fahua jar and cover, guan, Early 16th century; 43cm (17in) high.Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 (€36,000 - 48,000). Photo Bonhams.

Boldly decorated in relief on a dark purple-blue ground with one trailed-slip standing crested mythical crane and another with head lowered between its long legs, divided by large double sprays of peony in profile around an upright Lake Tai garden rock, the details boldly glazed in mustard-yellow, turquoise and aubergine, the original domed cover with two horizontal leafy sprays of fruit beneath a knop finial.  (2).

Note: Compare with a related fahua globular jar, 15th century, decorated with birds perched on floral branches, in the Ataka collection, Osaka, illustrated in The Beauty of Asian Ceramics – from the Collection of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Osaka, 2014, pp.88-89, no.55. 

A related large fahua jar decorated with peacocks and peonies, 16th century, was sold at Sotheby's London on 15 May 2013, lot 120.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, 11 May 2017, 11:00 BST, LONDON, NEW BOND STREET