Lot 2706. Property from The Tianminlou Collection. An impressive and finely painted large blue and white ‘Four scholarly pursuits’ jar, Jiajing six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1522-1566); 35 cm high. Price realised HKD 2,142,000 (Estimate: HKD 900,000 – HKD 1,200,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong prior to 1985.

Literature: - Anthology of Chinese Art: Min Chiu Society Silver Jubilee Exhibition, Hong Kong, 1985, p. 361, no. 156
- Chinese Porcelain in the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 36
- Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 4: Ming Official Wares, Taipei, 1991, p. 218
- Blue and White Porcelain from the Tianminlou Collection, Taipei, 1992, p.144-145, no. 55
- Blue and White Porcelain from the Collection of Tianminlou Foundation, Shanghai, 1996, p. 152-153, no. 60.

Exhibited: - Hong Kong Museum of Art, Anthology of Chinese Art: Min Chiu Society Silver Jubilee Exhibition, Hong Kong, 25 October 1985 – 15 January 1986, no. 156

- Hong Kong Museum of Art, Chinese Porcelain in the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 36
- Chang Foundation, Blue and White Porcelain from the Tianminlou Collection, Taipei, 1992, no. 55
- Shanghai Museum, Blue and White Porcelain from the Collection of Tianminlou Foundation, Shanghai, 1996, p. 152-153, no. 60.

Note: This beautiful jar is decorated on the exterior with four cartouches, each depicting scholars and their attendants in leisurely pursuits in nature.

An identical jar is in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 100 (fig. 1). Another example with a cover is in the Hakone Art Museum Collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu – vol. 14 – Ming, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 73. A third example was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 23 March 2004, lot 639.

This impressive jar is vividly decorated with the intense cobalt blue seen on the finest imperial porcelains of the Jiajing reign.

According to the chapter on ceramics (Taoshu) in the Jiangxisheng Dazhi (Annals of Jiangxi province, compiled by Wang Zongmu between 1556 and 1597) there were three types of blue pigment used on Jiajing porcelains. One was pitang blue from Leping in Jiangxi, another was shizi (stone blue) from Ruizhou, and the last, most precious, was the so-called hui qing, 'Mohammedan' blue from the West, some of which entered China through Turfan, Xinjiang province.

As noted in the Jiangxisheng Dazhi, the hui qing blue was very precious and would probably have been used only for imperial porcelains. However, it had a slight tendency to run in the glaze during firing, and so was usually mixed with a small amount of shizi blue to counteract this problem. It is likely that a combination of blue pigments was used to paint the current jar, which displays vibrant colour combined with excellent control.