A RARE YELLOW-GROUND BLUE AND WHITE MEIPING QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

the tall slender body rising from a gently spreading foot to a broad rounded shoulder and short narrow waisted neck, painted in rich cobalt-blue tones around the exterior with two broad peony scroll bands, one enclosing a crane and a peacock in flight, divided by classic and key-fret bands and above a broad lotus-lappet band at the base, all reserved on a rich yellow ground, the interior and base glazed white 

It is extremely rare to find blue and white meiping of this type enamelled with a yellow ground. Several doucai examples are recorded, including one by Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. LXXXVIII; and another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 22nd May 1985, lot 191.

The shape and the decoration found on this vase closely follow early Yuan dynasty prototypes. See a related example in the T.T. Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, differing only in the narrow border decoration, illustrated in Splendour of Ancient Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 1996, fig. 44; and another, in the Ardebil Shrine, published in J.A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, The Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1981, cat.no. 29.406.