Lot 1381. A rare blue and white water pot and cover, 17th century; 19¾ in. (50 cm.) high. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. Price realised USD 11,875. © Christie's Image Ltd 2013.

The tapering body is divided into two registers of flower scroll bordered by bowstring bands dressed with a pale brown glaze, and has a square spout rising from the rounded shoulder. The very slightly domed top is divided by a handle formed by two dragons contesting a flaming pearl between curved flanges at either end, and is decorated on each side with diaper pattern surrounding a flower and insect-decorated quadrilobed panel, one of which has a circular opening fitted with a cover.

Provenance: Imperial Oriental Art, New York, December 2002.

Literature: Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 826.

Note: A vessel of similar shape, decorated in polychrome enamels with lotus scrolls, dated to the mid-17th century, is in the Musée Guimet, Paris, and illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo 1981, no. 105. The handle on the Guimet example is cloud-form, instead of the opposing dragons on the current example, and there does not appear to be an opening with a cover. It is referred to as a "ewer," which would imply it has a spout on the opposite side.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 19 - 20 September 2013