A rare fluted blue and white jardiniere mark and period of Jiajing

the eight-lobed cylindrical body tapered at the base to meet a short straight foot, rising to a slightly upturned wide everted rim, decorated on the exterior in brilliant tones of pale cobalt blue with a pair of five-clawed scaly dragons in mutual pursuit, climbing through scrolling lotus, peony and chrysanthemum, flanked above by a classic scroll border and below by a band of lappets enclosing trefoil and circle motifs, the rim with four detached flower sprays, the base pierced for drainage and inscribed with a six-character mark (wood stand)

Collection of Edward T. Chow.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25th November 1980, lot 16.
Collection of T.Y. Chao.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 18th November 1986, lot 45.

A very similar jardiniere also with a Jiajing reign mark and of the period is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 112. See also two Jiajing jardinieres of this shape, with related decoration in coloured enamels illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, pls. 846 and 847; and another lobed jardiniere of the same size as the present example, painted with cranes and shou characters in underglaze-blue, sold in our London rooms, 6th July 1976, lot 157.