Lot 100. A wucai globular 'Dragon' jarlet, Encircled Jiajing six-character mark and of the period (1522-1566); 5 in. (13 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 7,000 - GBP 10,000. Price realised GBP 11,500. © Christie’s Images Limited 1998

Enamelled around the body with two dragons in mutual pursuit among clouds, between a row of stylised lotus lappets at the base and quatrefoil cloud scrolls at the shoulder below the tooth-pattern at the short cylindrical neck, fitted box.

Note: A very similar jar is illustrated in colour in the revised edition Sekai Toji Zenshu, 1976, vol.14, no.232, p.236; and another in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, pl.844, p.282. Compare also the similarly enamelled square jars of this date; an example of this group complete with cover is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated Zhongguo Meishu Quanji (A Complete Anthology of Chinese Art), Ceramics, Vol.3, no.114, p.97.  

Christie's. MING - THE AGE OF REFINEMENT. London, 16 November 1998