A rare massive blue and white jar, guan Ming Dynasty, Hongwu period

of sturdily potted large ovoid form rising in a gentle curve to a short waisted neck with a raised mouth rim, painted in deep tones of cobalt-blue with six luscious lotus blooms on meandering stem with trefoil leaves and smaller blooms, between bands of lotus lappet panels around the shoulder and lower body, each panel enclosing an important Buddhist emblem or lotus sprig, the neck decorated with a classic scroll, the foot encircled with scrolling lingzhi, all divided by double line bands, the recessed base unglazed

The present jar is unusual in both its form and design. Only two other closely related jars are recorded, one sold in these rooms, 3rd May 1994, lot 33, which appears to differ from it only in small details such as some of the emblems enclosed in the petal panels, and is lacking its original base; and the other offered in these rooms, 2nd May 1995, lot 16.

The very elaborate lotus scroll, with flowers formed by numerous scrolled petals and divided by intricate scrolling stems with small leaves, appears to be rare for the early Ming period, and the lingzhi scroll band around the foot below the panel border is also unusual. In its decoration the present jar is strongly influenced by earlier Yuan dynasty upright vessels suggesting that it may have been produced in the early years of Hongwu's reign.  

See a baluster guan with white space flanking a central peony scroll, and with panels of emblems around the shoulders, illustrated in Sotheby's Hong Kong - Twenty Years, 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 24, sold in these rooms, 15th May 1990, lot 15; and a meiping with a similar elegantly-spaced band is included in Masterpieces of Chinese and Korean Ceramics in the Ataka Collection, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 122.

The panels themselves are also unusual, with large trefoils in the centre and lotus sprigs alternating with the emblems. For a related band compare a jar decorated with fish from the Ataka collection illustrated in Toru Nakano, A Panoramic Views of Chinese Patterns, Tokyo, 1985, pl. 148, with emblems in simpler trefoil-centered panels alternating with 'flaming pearls'. Compare also two vases with differently-framed panels of emblems around the neck illustrated in J. M. Addis, Chinese Ceramics from Datable Tombs and Some Other Dated Materials, London, 1978, pl. 28, a guan with ribboned emblems alternating with sprays of flowers, above a central dragon with white space above and below, and pl. 30, a pictorial meiping with alternate emblems and 'flaming pearls' in frames centered by small clouds.