Lot 92.  A rare large blue and white rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 76.5cm (30in) high. Estimate £ 120,000 - 150,000 (€ 140,000 - 170,000). Unsold. Photo Bonhams.

Boldy and brightly painted around the cylindrical body with a continuous scene of scholars and attendants in a mountainous riverscape dotted with large pavilions, the neck with horizontal bands of ruyi-heads, key-fret border, trellis pattern, and swirl band. 

Provenance: an English private collection
Bonhams London, 12 May 2011, lot 293

My Retreat in the Zhongnan Mountains
My heart in middle age found the Way.
And I came to dwell at the foot of this mountain.
When the spirit moves, I wander alone,
Amid beauty that is all for me....
I will walk till the water checks my path,
Then sit and watch the rising clouds –
And some day meet an old wood-cutter,
And talk and laugh and never return.
Wang Wei (699–759)

Note: Compare with a blue and white rouleau vase, Kangxi, of similar massive size and form, and another of similar design, but smaller, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, pls.14 and 15. See also a similarly-painted large blue and white rouleau vase in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by Wang Qingzheng, ed., in Underglaze Blue & Red, Hong Kong, 1987, pl.186.; another large blue and white rouleau vase in the Salting Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated by W.B.Honey, A Guide to the Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1927, pl.31. see also a further pair formerly in the Bahr collection, illustrated by A.W.Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain and Works of Art in China, London, 1911, pl.LVIII.

Compare with a related blue and white rouleau vase, Kangxi, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 June 2015, lot 3226.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, London, 7 Nov 2019