A rare green-enameled 'dragon' jar, Mark and period of Kangxi

Collection of Herman A. E. (d. 1951) and Paul C. (d. 1951) Jaehne.

Gifted to The Newark Museum, Newark, in 1941 (accession

no. 41.2104).

Adorned with a pair of ferocious dragons swirling among the clouds in leafy green enamel and crisp underglaze blue, the present jar is a rare early example of an imperial icon – the green dragon jar.

The combination of green enamel on a white ground was first produced during the Chenghua period (1465-87) and similar motifs of green dragons continued to adorn dishes and bowls throughout the Ming dynasty. This auspicious design, combining the eight emblems of Buddhism (bajixiang) with the imperial five-clawed dragon, was soon adopted also by the master potters of the imperial kilns during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722), where it was applied to dishes and – for the first time – to jars. 

Although related jars of this type from the ensuing Qianlong period and beyond are fairly well attested, this early variety remains elusive. Densely covered in scrolling clouds, with each vibrant dragon penciled out in remarkable detail, Kangxi examples of this type possess an ineffable sense of character and energy rarely replicated in later versions. Compare a covered example of this type, from the Qing Court Collection, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colors, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 190; another sold without a cover at Christie’s London, 10th May 2011, lot 281; and a third, also uncovered, sold in our London rooms, 13th December 1976, lot 64. Compare also a similarly rare Kangxi marked dish of this decoration, from the Edward T. Chow Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 155 and again more recently as part of the Yidetang Collection, 12th October 2021, lot 7.