Lot 242. A blue and white 'figural' jar and cover, Transitional period, circa 1640. Height 11¾ in., 29.8 cm. Estimate: 6,000 - 8,000 USD. Lot sold: 40,320 USD. © Sotheby's 2021

of baluster form rising from a slightly splayed foot to rounded shoulders and a short, subtly waisted neck, painted in varying tones of cobalt blue with an official strolling alongside a river bank gazing at a fisherman at work, accompanied by four attendants and a grazing horse, set within a detailed landscape of rockwork and trees, a city wall peeking through a break in the clouds, all below a border of pendent leaves encircling the neck, the domed cover painted with rockwork and surmounted by a flattened knop.

Property from a New York Private Collection.

Provenance: Collection of Elaine Schiffman (1922-2000), acquired between the 1970s and 1990s, and thence by descent.

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