Lot 1384. An extremely rare blue and white 'Three friends' jar, guan, Yuan dynasty, mid-14th century; 9 in. (22.9 cm.) high, box. Estimate HKD 7,000,000 - HKD 9,000,000. Price realised HKD 21,400,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2006.

The slightly compressed globular body exquisitely painted in finely executed brushstrokes to depict a continuous landscape scene detailed with a galloping deer, its head gracefully turned toward one side as if to observe a spray of lingzhi fungus growing from jagged rocks, beside bamboo sprays and a pair of entwined pine trees, the scene is subtly partitioned by a small waterfall flowing between columnar rocks, further detailed with a prunus tree growing blossoms on branches, on which is perched a magpie in a lively pose with one claw raised as if to take flight to an aged pine tree in the near distance, the shoulder decorated with a band of lotus lappets each enclosing a 'Precious Object', the neck with a boldly drawn border of breaking waves and the foot with a ring of twelve lotus petal panels enclosing pendent trefoils and circles.

Note: This painterly style executed with such finely drawn brushstrokes is of an exceptional quality rarely seen on Yuan dynasty ceramics. Using the main body of the jar as a panoramic landscape canvas, the design is less formal than a group of known figures-in-landscape 'narrative' jars, such as the blue and white Guigu Xiashan jar sold in our London Rooms, 12 July 2005, lot 88; and the Jinxiang Ting jar sold in these Rooms, 28 November 2005, lot 1403. One of the most interesting points of note on the present jar is the expressive depiction of the deer. The brushstrokes are sufficiently simplistic to convey a sense of movement and alertness of the animal. The artist in this instance probably owed his skill and imagination to painting styles that were known and popular at the time.

The rendition of the deer is closely comparable to an early painting of deers dated to the Liao dynasty entitled: Qiulin Qunlu, 'Deers in Autumn Forest', [fig. 1] in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Zhongguo Huihua Quanji, juan 3, Five Dynasties Song Liao Jin, no. 2, Zhejiang renmin meishu chubanse, 1999, no. 62. Compare also the rendering of the long pointed branches to works by the well-known Southern Song master painter of prunus flowers, Yang Wu Jiu (1097-1169). Yang's four paintings entitled, Si Mei Tu, 'Four Stages of Blossoming Plum', are in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, illustrated op. cit., juan 4, 1999, nos. 4 and 5. Each painting articulates prunus flowers in a particular stage of bloom: first with emerging buds, then partially opened [fig. 2], to full bloom and finally, with blossoms that are about to wither. When these paintings were presented to the Emperor Huizong they were termed by the emperor as 'village prunus' intimating a style that differed to a "palace quality", cf. Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, Treasures of the Forbidden Palace, 1982, p. 183. However, this influential style continued in literati paintings of Yuan dynasty as evidenced by prunus paintings by Wang Mian (1287-1359), see op. cit., juan 8, 1999, nos. 60 and 61; and undoubtedly prevailed throughout the Ming and Qing periods.

The prunus, pine and bamboo together provides the theme for the 'Three Friends of Winter'. This is a relatively early depiction of the subject-matter in the Yuan period although it became widely used in the decorative repertoire of early Ming period ceramics. An interesting point of note is the interpretation of the pine tree trunks detailed with an unusual dotted cell-pattern that is very similar to that on the cited Guigu Xiashan jar sold at Christie's London. One of the most unusual painting styles can be found on the twisted pine tree trunks which is an artistic interpretation of aged trees that can also be found in Yuan painting, cf. two paintings by Li Shixing (1282-1328), op. cit., juan 7, 1999, nos. 108 and 209. This characteristic form of twisted trunks is comparable to those on a large jar illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, p. 230, no. 691; and it also appears on a 'Three Friends' meiping vase, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Japan, 1987, col. pl. 139. 

The addition of the magpie and the deer heralds auspicious rebuses, Xishang Meishao, 'Happiness has presently arrived' and Songlu Tongchun, 'May one live in eternal Spring'. Images of deers very rarely appear as a ceramic decorative motif during the Yuan dynasty, although two excavated shards drawn with deer motifs [fig. 3], are found from the late Yuan period Luomaqiao site in Jingdezhen. The first is a remnant of an underglaze copper-red vase and the other is part of a blue and white dish, both illustrated in Ceramic Finds from Jingdezhen Kilns, Hong Kong, 1992, nos. 173 and 174 respectively. It has been mentioned that since the body of these deers are reserved against white, it may be associated with early mythology of the Mongol people who, according to mythology, were descendants of "wolves and white deer", ibid, p. 131.