Chinese porcelain famille verte, wucai, vase of rouleau form, Kangxi period, circa 1700. Photo Marchant.

painted in a continuous scene with the celebrated general and minister Guo Ziyi seated with his wife while visited by his family on his seventieth birthday in a terrace scene, in front of a wave screen, with fence, rockwork, plantain, wutong and cloud scrolls beneath a band of ruyi-heads, the neck with bamboo sprays and rockwork above reserves of precious objects at the shoulder. 17 ½ inches, 44.5cm high. The base incised with a three-character collector’s mark, Fenba zhi, ‘purchased by Fenba’. Price on request

Provenance: From a French private collection.

Notes: Another famille verte rouleau of this subject was included by Marchant in their catalogue of Recent Acquisitions, 2009, no. 10, pp. 20/1.

A blue and white rouleau vase of similar subject in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated by Chen Runmin in Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi and Kangxi Underglaze Blue in the Gugong Museum, no. 293, pp. 455/7.

Guo Ziyi (697-781), was a famous general who lived during the Tang Dynasty, his most famous victory was quelling the An Shi Rebellion and he was later given the title of Prince of Fenyang.