A large iron-red and green enameled jar, guan, Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

stoutly potted the ovoid body rising to a short waisted neck with everted rim, well-painted in vibrant iron-red and green enamels with an array of floral registers centering on a lively peony scroll, enclosed between a band of quatrefoil cloud scrolls on an iron-red ground encircling the waisted base, and a band of scrolling chrysanthemum blooms on a green ground and overlapping petals along the shoulders and below the rim, the base unglazed, Japanese wood box. Height 11 1/8  in., 28.2 cm

Notes: The enamel palette of iron-red and green enamels absent underglaze blue was relatively common on wares produced by privately operated kilns at Jingdezhen in the 16th and 17th centuries. The complexity of the varying floral bands and ground colors is a notable feature of the present jar. The technical and artistic skill required to achieve the finely proportioned form, the harmonious, colorful and complementary decoration is seen in the best examples of the period.

A jar of the same form and with related design is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, Tokyo, 1976, p. 86, no. 89. See also a meipingfrom the Qing Court Collection similarly decorated illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colors, vol. 38, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 5, no. 4.  

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor – Ceramics, New York, 17 mars 2015, 10:00 AM