AN INCISED GREEN-GROUND YELLOW-ENAMEL 'DRAGON' JAR MARK AND PERIOD OF WANLI

of ovoid form, the rounded sides rising from a thick footring and a recessed base to a straight neck, incised around the body and painted in ochre-yellow against a bright green ground with four quatrefoil panels, each enclosing a five-clawed dragon with a wide open mouth, curved horns and an upswept mane, writhing amidst clouds reaching for a 'flaming pearl' above rocks and waves, the panels interspersed with the 'Eight Buddhist Emblems', all tied with ribbons, below a band of petal lappets collaring the shoulder and above a border of flowering sprays around the foot, the interior and base reserved in white, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double ring in underglaze blue

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 30th April 1996, lot 360.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1692.

There is a star crack inside the vase (approx. 4.5 cm) and two faint hairline cracks at the rim (one approx. 2.5 cm, the second pronged at the bottom of the rim with one branch extending on approx. 6.3 cm. above the shoulder). Some minor grits and expected firing flaws to the glaze and glaze crakles to the interior and under the base.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Jars decorated in this striking colour combination are rare in private collections but are found in several major museums, for example, in the Tokyo National Museum from the Yokogawa collection, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and in the British Museum, London, from the Oppenheim collection, all illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, New York, and San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 1, no. 124; vol. 5, no. 206, and vol. 11, no. 96; other examples are illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, col. pl. 73; in John Ayers, The Baur Collection Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74, vol. II, no. A 208; and in Idemitsu Bijutsukan zōhin zuroku: Chūgoku tōji/Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 766. Two other jars with a coarser version of this design, from the Eumorfopoulos collection in the British Museum, London, are illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pls. 11: 174 and 175.

A rare covered example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Yeh Pei-lang [Ye Peilan], Beauty of Ceramics, vol. 7: Gems of the Wucai Porcelain, Taipei, 1996, pl. 160.