Lot 2924.  A very rare large blue and white ‘Figures in windswept landscape’ jar, Ming dynasty, mid-15th century; 14 in. (36 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000 (USD 51,318 - USD 76,977). Unsold.  © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.  

The heavily potted jar is painted in vibrant tones of cobalt blue with two lively scenes, depicting three scholar-officials on horseback accompanied by attendants on foot on one side, the other side with a scholar seated in an architectural complex immersed in deep thought, all set in a landscape set amongst trees, rocks and swirling clouds. The shoulder is decorated with clusters of lotus and waterweed below a diamond band around the neck. The foot is decorated with a band of upright plantain leaves above a classic scroll. The recessed base is unglazed.

Provenance: Sold at Sotheby’s London, 13 June 1989, lot 211
Sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 28 November 2009, lot 319.

Note: The present jar belongs to a group of large blue and white jars and meiping dating to the mid-15th century, sometimes known as ‘interregnum period’, depicting figures in landscapes and garden settings in the so-called ‘windswept style’, featuring billowing clouds and blown trees. Compare with a similar scene on a jar illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Shogakukan, 1976, vol. 14, pl. 35; a similar jar from the Manno Art Museum, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 October 2002, lot 532; and another jar with a similar scene sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 7 July 2003, lot 659.

Compare also to a meiping with a similar scene, exhibited at No Doubts, Christie’s Shanghai, 6-19 December 2014, catalogue no. 20.

Christie's. An Important Collection Of Chinese Ceramics From A Private Collector, Hong Kong, 27 November 2019