Lot 1128. A Fahua ‘Eight Immortals and Shoulao’ jar, Ming dynasty, 15th-16th century; 32.4 cm high. Price realised HKD 190,500 (Estimate HKD 150,000 – HKD 200,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2026

Provenance: Sold at Christie’s London, 7 November 2006, lot 183

Sold at Christie’s London, Rooms as Portraits: Michael S. Smith, Eaton Square, London, 12 September 2018, lot 32

Literature: Michael S. Smith, Houses, New York, 2008, pp. 135-6

Stuart Marchant, Marchant – One Hundred Years, vol. II (2001-2025), London, 2025, p. 401, no. 1818

Note: This jar is a classic example of the vibrant fahua-decorated vessels made at Jingdezhen in the mid-Ming period. The technique of using raised slip lines to produce cloisons, in which differently coloured, low-firing, glazes could be applied was one that may have originated at the kilns making architectural ceramics in North China.

The Eight Daoist Immortals appear on a small number of late 15th and16th century fahua vessels, sometimes, as on the present example, accompanied by Shoulao the Star God of Longevity. A similar example with cover decorated with the same subject, from the E.T. Chow Collection, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 3118; another decorated with scholars between ruyi collars and upright lappets, bequest of Isaac D. Fletcher, 1917, is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection number: 17.120.149.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 30 April 2026