Lot 335. A fine powder-blue-ground wucai and gilt rouleau vase, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period (1662-1722). Height 16 7/8 in., 42.9 cm. Estimate: US$30,000 - US$50,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the cylindrical form exquisitely decorated with four elongated quatrefoil reserves, each painted in underglaze-blue and wucai enamels, one with an assemblage of 'Precious Antiques', another with a pair of heron amidst lush lotus, a third with an auspicious depiction of a deer and crane beneath a towering pine tree, and a tranquil scene of a scholar and attendant traversing a stream, each flanked by smaller shaped-panels enclosing floral sprigs in iron red and blue, a gilt classic scroll border encircling the galleried rim, all against a finely mottled cobalt blue ground enhanced with bright, gilt floral sprays, coll. no. 1701.

Provenance: Collection of Edward James (1907-1984), West Dean Park, Chichester, West Sussex.
Christie's London, 3rd June 1986, lot 846.
Sotheby's Monaco, 22nd June 1987, lot 1386.