Lot 83. A yellow-ground underglaze-blue 'double-gourd' vase, Mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566). Height 7½ in., 19.1 cm. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 USD. Lot sold: 75,600 USD © Sotheby's 2021

the globular lower body and pear-shaped upper bulb boldly painted in deep cobalt blue with meandering leafy lotus scroll, the waisted midsection with florets and a row of ruyi heads, all against a rich yellow-enameled ground, the base white and with a six-character mark within a double circle in underglaze blue.

From the Collection of Bruce Dayton and Ruth Stricker Dayton.

Provenance: Marchant, London, 31st March 1999.

Exhibited: Two Hundred Years of Chinese Porcelain 1522-1722, S. Marchant & Son, London, 1998, cat. no. 1.

Note: Carried by Daoist immortals, double-gourds were believed to contain elixirs of immortality. As such, vases in this form are closely associated with Daoism and reflect the Jiajing Emperor's devotion to the religion. A vase of this type is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 91.1.379). Another sold twice in our London rooms, on 17th December 1980, lot 634, and again on 5th December 1995, lot 406. For a variation of this vase with iron-red blossoms, see a pair in the British Museum, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pls 9:88 and 9:89.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 September 2021