Lot 29. A blue and white brush pot, bitong, Transitional period, mid-17th century; 7 3/8 in. (18.8 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 8,000 - GBP 12,000 (USD 10,360 - USD 15,540). Price realised GBP 30,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

The exterior of the body is finely decorated with a continuous scene depicting 'Washing the Elephant', sao xiang, with one servant holding a broom and a long hook standing on the back of the animal beside a water-filled wooden tub. Another figure wearing loose robes and military boots watches the scene from beneath a tree, all between an incised band to the mouth rim and the foot rim.

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

Provenance: With Vanderven & Vanderven Oriental Art, the Netherlands, 25 November 1998.

Note: The scene on the present brush pot, sao xiang, which literally means 'sweeping the elephant', is a pun on the Buddhist notion of the illusionary nature of the phenomenal world. Illustrations of this scene were very popular during the late Ming and early Qing period, especially on porcelain but also on other works of art and paintings.

For two small brush pots decorated with versions of this scene see Julia B. Curtis, 'Decorative Schemes for New Markets: The Origins and Use of Narrative Themes on 17th Century Chinese Porcelain', International Ceramics Fair & Seminar, London, 1997, p.18, fig. 1, and S. Marchant & Son, Exhibition of Chongzhen-Shunzhi Transitional Porcelain From A Private American Collection, London, 2007, p. 5, no. 1. Another pear-shaped vase with the same motif in the Julia and John Curtis collection was sold at Christie's New York, 16 March 2015, lot 3569.

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