A magnificent, classic blue and white 'peony' jar (Guan) Yuan Dynasty

of superbly-potted baluster form, the wide swelling shoulders gently tapering to the foot, surmounted by an upright neck with rolled lip, deftly painted in vibrant tones of cobalt-blue with a central frieze of meandering peony, the six large blooms shown from various aspects, each bearing a luxuriant array of petals ending in lobed tips finely articulated with incised veins, three blooms depicted in profile, with petals folded open to reveal a dense register of stamens, the others seen from above and below, respectively, with petals regularly arranged around a central rosette or a six-lobed calyx, all borne on a thick undulating stem sprouting fleshy pointed leaves and smaller buds in different stages of unfolding, the jar encircled further around the shoulders by a continuous lotus scroll on a meandering stem issuing formalized blooms and spiky curling leaves, the blooms with pointed petals alternately enveloping and revealing the heart of the flowers, below a band of vibrant breaking waves with white crests to the short neck, with a narrow classic scroll border and stylized upright lappets enclosing pendant cloud-like trefoils and rings above the foot, all within double-line borders, the design skillfully rendered with broad strokes within penciled outlines, the cobalt-blue of rich purple-blue tone, accentuated by pronounced 'heaping and piling', the inside covered with the blue-tinged glaze, and the base and shallow footring left unglazed revealing the fine yellowish-burnt biscuit

This jar is in very good condition. It is well potted with slight warpage to the rim, which affects only the neck and not the rest of the body. There are scattered pinholes and negligible glaze gaps, with one tiny flake to the shoulder. The rim has some burst bubbles and minute chips. There is one area of kiln fault to a leaf shown on the upper left hand image on page 229 of the catalogue, along with another small area of kiln fault to the top of a lappet. The color in the catalogue is slightly more blue than on the jar itself.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In shape, design and painting style, this jar is an archetypal example of Yuan blue-and-white porcelain. Its strong design of crescent waves, lotus scroll, peony scroll with carved details, classic-scroll border, and lotus petals combines the five most characteristic elements from the repertoire of Jingdezhen's porcelain painters at the time. During the second quarter of the 14th century, the most dramatic and lasting changes in the development of Chinese ceramics took place at the Jingdezhen kilns in Jiangxi province within a matter of a few years, when the serene aesthetic style of the Song dynasty, which favored subdued monochromatic wares in smaller formats, made way for the flamboyant style under the Mongol regime of the Yuan, with bright color, vivid painting, and impressive sizes. This change in direction accelerated the demise of most other kiln centers in China, started the vogue for blue-and-white that swept through Asia and later into Europe, and made Jingdezhen the indisputed center of ceramic production worldwide.  

The powerful profile of this guan shape, with its dramatic swelling of the body, with the widest part just above the center, is a characteristic silhouette of the Yuan dynasty, which was developed prior to the introduction of the blue-and-white color scheme and is similarly found, for example, in Longquan celadon, Jingdezhen qingbai ware, as well as brown-glazed and Cizhou type wares, as documented by finds from the shipwreck sunk off Shinan (formerly: Sinan) in South Korea in 1323; see for example, Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan: Materials I, Seoul, 1985, pls. 30, 33, 70, 99, 100.

Although demand for blue-and-white jars such as this one was considerable from the start, not only in China, but particularly in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, production of these early blue-and-white porcelains was still conducted on a fairly small scale and vessels appear to have been individually finished, as execution varies from piece to piece. Several related jars are known, but on the present piece the flowers are particularly sensitively rendered, shown from different angles and in different stages of opening.

Only one jar appears to be very closely related, both in its basic pattern and in the peculiar rendering of the flowers, a piece in the Shanghai Museum, published in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 24 (Fig.1).

The lotus blooms both on our jar and the Shanghai Museum example are drawn in an unusual, peculiar way, with distinctive spiky petals and prominently displayed stamens, and some of the peonies are similarly done in a very idiosyncratic manner, also with distinct stamens or with petals folded open to reveal the heart of a bloom. This is very rarely seen on similar jars, although it is echoed, for example, on  the famous figure-subject jar from the British Rail Pension Fund, sold in these rooms, 23rd October 1976, lot 242 and in our Hong Kong rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 12 (Fig.2). That jar shows a naturalistic peony bush growing behind a pierced garden rock and a narrow peony scroll around the shoulder, both similarly depicting blooms in this open, mature form, with prominent stamens. Prototypes for this representation of the peony can be found on painted Cizhou pillows of the Jin dynasty; see, for example, Zhao Xuefeng, Zhongguo Cizhou yao, Chongqing, 2004, p.26.

Other jars with the same basic pattern show a more simplified rendering of the blooms, with the heart of the bloom hidden by envelopping petals, for example, a jar in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan. Taoci juan, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 551; one in a Japanese private collection is illustrated in So Gen no bijutsu, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 198; and the only closely comparable example sold at auction, first in our London rooms, 7th June 1988, lot 211A (212 according to the catalogue), then at Christie's Hong Kong, 25th October 1993, lot 716, and more recently in these rooms, 30th March 2006, lot 61 (Fig.3). Compare also the jar from the collection of Charles A. Dana, sold in these rooms, 20th September 2000, lot 101, with a more elaborate composite flower scroll around the shoulder and the peonies just beginning to open to reveal their stamens (Fig.4).

Guan jars with similar peony and lotus scroll decoration often have a weaker floral border replacing the bold waves at the neck, more simplified peony and lotus scrolls, with less variation or lacking incised detail, and the classic scroll either missing or replaced by a diaper band.

On Chinese ceramics, flowers are generally depicted in a naturalistic, if sometimes stylized or abbreviated fashion, but always with blooms, fruit and leaves matching. The only exception is the lotus, which can be depicted both in a naturalistic manner, with large dish-like leaves, and in a fanciful form, with long trefoil or curling tendril-like leaves, which bear no relationship to the actual plant. This rendering, which shows the flower in an idealized form and can be seen on the shoulder of the present jar, may refer to the Buddhist connotation of the flower as a symbol of purity, rather than the lotus as a southern Chinese garden plant. This kind of representation is already found on earlier stone reliefs, for example, at Yongling, the mausoleum of Wang Jian (r. 907-918), founding emperor of the Former Shu dynasty in Sichuan; see Zhongguo meishu quanji. Diaosu bian, vol.5, Beijing, 1988, pls 16 and 17, where this motif is combined with high-relief lotus petals, also similar to those on the present jar.