A LARGE BLUE AND WHITE SLEEVE VASE QING DYNASTY, SHUNZHI PERIOD

of cylindrical form with flat base and tall waisted neck, finely painted around the exterior in rich cobalt-blue tones with scholars playing weiqi amidst a landscape with equestrian figures and swirling mist, all between incised classic scroll and wave bands at the foot and shoulder and a pendent stiff leaf band at the rim

A tall vase of this form painted with a scene of figures in landscape is illustrated in Julia B. Curtis, Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century, New York, 1995, p. 48, pl. 4, where the author notes that the horizontal clouds represent the conventional 'back' found on many porcelains made between the 1630s and the early 1660s. This convention works as a frame for the different scenes taken from woodblock-printed books, scenes which were transposed from a flat surface to a round object.

Compare a vase decorated with a hunting scene sold in these rooms, 2nd December 249; another slightly larger vase, from the collection of Gunda Mordhorst, sold in our New York rooms, 25th September 1975, lot 153; and a third example, from the H.M. Knight collection, sold at Christie's London, 13th November 1979, lot 46.