A Large Blue and White Jardiniere Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period

the cylindrical bowl tapering to the foot, with slightly molded lip, well-decorated in cobalt-blue with a continuous landscape of rocky mountains and water, peopled with sages and attendants visiting pavilions under the light of a full moon, leiwen border below rim, wood stand (2)

Sotheby's New York, 8th May 1981, lot 284.
Sotheby's New York, 7th December 1983, lot 342.

The elegant landscape portrayed on the present piece and the jardiniere following, lot 119, are descendants of those found on blue and white porcelains of the transitional period in the mid 17th century. Closely related to classical landscape paintings of the Song, Yuan and Ming periods, the landscapes found on these porcelains appealed to the emerging educated middle classes, particularly in the prosperous cities along the lower Yangtze river such as Nanjing, Hangzhou and Suzhou. This market favored beautiful, well-crafted works, often with themes and motifs which traditionally appealed to the literati, such as allusions to famous histories, poems and works of art. 

The present landscape, depicting peaceful figures dwarfed by the majesty of their surroundings, might also appeal to a native Chinese viewer who sought to escape the everyday reality of living under the domination of the non-native Manchu dynasty, retreating like a Daoist sage into a landscape bearing only scattered hints of the hand of man.