Lot 521. A blue and white jar with mask handles, guan, Yuan dynasty (1279-1366), 33.3 cm., 13 1/8 in. Estimate 800,000 — 1,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 2,400,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

of sturdily potted baluster form with gently curving sides, flanked at the shoulders by a pair of crisply moulded lion mask handles, boldly painted in varying tones of cobalt-blue with a central frieze of six luscious peony blooms seen from the front, side and back borne on an undulating leafy stem, the petals and leaves lightly incised to render subtle veining, all beneath a band of six pendant ruyi-shaped heads enclosing dense peony and chrysanthemum scrolls, with a classic scroll and a band of lappets encircling the foot, and a further lappet border at the shoulder, the neck now missing.

Provenance: Acquired in France.

Note: In its material, form and design, this majestic jar is a classic example of blue-and-white porcelain of the Yuan dynasty. The Yuan (1279-1368) was an innovative period for China’s ceramic production, when the aesthetic tradition of small, unobtrusive, and mostly monochromatic stoneware gave way to an impressive style of monumental porcelains with dense and bold decoration. These Chinese porcelains, unmatched in the world in quality and design, became prized objects at the courts throughout Asia and the Middle East. The present jar is typical of the best blue-and-white wares made during this period. 

The form known as guan provides the perfect canvas for the large banded decoration that usually combines the most characteristic elements of Yuan porcelain design – lotus scroll, classic scroll, petal-panels or lappets and ruyi-shapedpanels. As seen from the present jar, the decoration is painted in a calligraphic brush-work style allowing the artist to be creative and spontaneous with his design. The 'heaping and piling' and the tonal graduation of the cobalt is also typical of this period.