Lot 737. A rare blue and white faceted 'dragon' jar, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double square and of the period (1573-1619), 7 5/8 in. (19.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 80,000. Price realised USD 100,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The jar is decorated on each side in vibrant blue with a five-clawed scaly dragon above a pair of phoenixes and a crane in flight, all amidst flowers and precious objects. The shoulder is decorated with pendent leaves and the neck with scrolls beneath double lines at the lipped rim.

Provenance: Private collection, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Note: It is rare to find a jar of this type from the Wanli period, and the inclusion of the pairs of phoenixes below each dragon is extremely unusual. Only one other example appears to have been published: see Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, 1976, p. 321, no. 959.

A related faceted jar, Jiajing mark and period, decorated with a dragon on each side surrounded by flowers, but without the phoenixes, and retaining a faceted cover, is illustrated by Sir H. Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1954, no. 50. Two further jars with pairs of dragons on each side include one illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 35 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 102, no. 95, and the example illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 703. Another Jiajing-marked faceted jar decorated with vases of flowers is illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Japan, 1976, vol. 14, p. 197, no. 189.

Christie's. Marchant: Nine Decades in Chinese Art, 14 September 2017, New York