Lot 27. A blue and white jar and cover, Transitional period, mid-17th century; 7 ¼ in. (18.4 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 8,000 - GBP 12,000 (USD 10,360 - USD 15,540). Price realised GBP 6,875. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

The jar is decorated to the exterior with a continous scene of an official with two attendants in a garden landscape with clouds. The shoulder is incised with a flower band and the neck is further embellished with two large flower tendrils. The cover is decorated with two figures in a mountainous landscape.

Property from the Estate of Albert and Leonie Van Daalen, Switzerland.

Provenance: With Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London, 2 June 1999.

Note: Blue and white porcelain in the shape of the present jar with figural decoration was very popular with European nobility and collectors in the late 17th and early 18th century. The motifs were often taken from popular Chinese novels, transferred from illustrated books or woodblock prints to porcelain. A larger jar and cover, also dated to the Transitional period and from the Walter and Phyllis Shorenstein collection, was sold at Christie's New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1681.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 5 November 2019