A PAIR OF BLUE AND WHITE 'WOMEN WARRIORS' JARS QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD

each of ovoid form, painted in washes of blue with a continuous frieze of the nine women of the Yang family riding horses into battle, each wearing a long feather in her headdress, some carrying flags, banners, spears and swords, set amongst clouds and the tops of canopies, below a 'cracked-ice' pattern on the shoulders and floral sprigs on the neck, the base of each with an artemisia leaf within a double circle

S. Marchant and Son, London.
Sotheby's New York, 30th March 2006, lot 303.

These vases depict a scene from the legendary story of the Yang family women generals of the Song dynasty who went into battle after their husbands, sons and brothers died in combat. The story tells about their bravery and heroic defeat of the Western Xia military campaign.

See a related jar decorated with court ladies, from the C.V. Howard collection, sold at Sotheby's London, 18th May 1976, lot 56; and another jar, of similar shape and size but painted with scholars and attendants, sold at Christie's London, 25th June 1979, lot 28.