Lot 51. A blue-glazed jar and cover, underglaze-blue Jiajing six-character mark within a double circle and of the period (1522-1566); 7½ in. (19 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 600 - GBP 800. Price realised GBP 2,151. © Christie's Images Ltd 2004

Incised around the ovoid body with two phoenix among clouds, between a band of ruyi heads around the neck and lotus petals around the base, the shallow domed cover with a band of ruyi heads below the bud finial, all covered in a deep cobalt-blue glaze stopping neatly around the foot, the interior and the base glazed white, rim restoration with associated crack. 

Provenance: E. T. Hall Collection, no. 324. 

Note: A similar example, without its cover, is in the Baur Collection, illustrated by John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Chinese Ceramics. Volume Two. Ming Porcelains and Other Wares , Geneva, 1969, no. A 169. The author also mentions a smaller example in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Christie's. Chinese Monochrome Porcelain from the Collection of the late E. T. Hall, London, 7 June 2004