Of heavily potted, baluster shape, painted in rich cobalt blue with a central band of two confronted scaly, five-clawed dragons racing through flames and clouds in pursuit of a flaming pearl, above a band of spume-flecked crashing waves, and below a pair of phoenixes in flight amidst lotus scroll on the shoulder, the rim with silver mount, wood stand.

Provenance: Collection of Maurice Gavreau, collected in China in the 1920s.

Note: The painting on this unusual large jar is quite similar in style to that seen on another large blue and white jar of similar shape painted with dragons above a band of waves, dated to the mid-15th century, illustrated in A Collection of Porcelain, Zhejiang Provincial Musuem, 2006, pp. 76-7. Rather than the phoenix and lotus scroll band on the shoulder of the present jar, the published jar has a ruyi collar reserved on a diaper ground, and a band of clouds around the neck. On both jars, the dragons, five-clawed on the present jar and three-clawed on the published jar, are fierce and powerful and the bands of decoration are separated by similar line borders. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 22 March 2007