A VERY RARE YELLOW-GROUND AND IRON-RED DECORATED 'DRAGON' JAR MARK AND PERIOD OF JIAJING

of globular form with rounded sides gently rising from a recessed base to broad shoulders, surmounted by a short waisted neck and lipped rim, brightly decorated with an overglaze yellow enamel partially covered by a design-bearing iron red, depicting two five-clawed yellow sinuous dragons soaring amidst stylised lingzhi below scrolling tendrils and above foaming waves crashing against rocks behind a ruyi border skirting the base, the detail and outlines picked out in black, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character mark

Mayuyama & Co, Ltd., Tokyo, prior to 1976.

Chuugoku kotouji yuuhin shouten, Mayuyama & Co, Ltd., Tokyo, 1973, cat. no. 14.

Ryūsen Shūhō. Sōgyō shichijū shūnen kinen/Mayuyama: Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, no. 832.

The jar is in overall good condition, except for a stained star crack and another three-pronged one to the interior. There are some original firing flaws, including firing lines mostly visible only on the interior, and one along the neck, as well as minor expected surface wear and light scratches. The enamels have been generally well preserved.
"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."

The auspicious significance of this colour scheme which depicts yellow imperial dragons floating in a luck-bringing bright red sea would seem to be ideally suited to an imperial ware. It may therefore seem surprising that it has only rarely been employed and remained specific to the Jiajing reign (1522-66). In this period, its auspicious symbolism seems to have been fully appreciated since yellow-and-red dragon jars were produced in no less than three different versions, of which the present type is by far the largest and most impressive. It was most likely the onerous production method that precluded a more widespread use: three necessary firings – one for the clear-glazed porcelain, one for the yellow overglaze enamel and a third for the design-bearing iron-red enamel – and the fact that the red, which had to be painted around the design to be reserved, proved difficult to apply in an even manner, must have accounted for high failure rates.

Jars of the present design, around 20 cm tall, are very rare and no other example appears to be preserved in private hands. A much better known version comes in the form of smaller baluster jars (around 13 cm high), also with yellow dragons on a red ground and with the dragons similarly arranged above rocks and waves, but surrounded by lingzhi scrolls, and with clouds around the shoulder; see, for example, a jar in the museum Yamato Bunkakan, Nara, illustrated together with the present piece in Ryūsen Shūhō. op. cit., no. 834; and a third type, similar in design to the last but even smaller (11 cm) and of more globular form, no. 833. An example of the former type in the National Museum of China, Beijing, is published in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section]: Mingdai [Ming dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 85, together with a yellow-and-red Jiajing jar with lotus scrolls and emblems, pl. 86. The yellow-and-red colour scheme was also used on a dish of Jiajing mark and period decorated with a dragon among lotus scrolls, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st October 1994, lot 567.

A jar identical to the present piece, from the Qing court collection, is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains. Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Shanghai, 2009, pl. 50. Another comparable jar, but repaired with metal cramps, is in the Jingdezhen Ceramics Museum of Jiangxi Province, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 13, pl. 157; a similar jar formerly in the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais, a palace of the Prussian Royal House near Berlin, and now in the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin, is illustrated in Beatrix von Ragué, Ausgewählte Werke Ostasiatischer Kunst, Berlin, 1970, cat. no. 62; a jar from the collection of Harvey Hadden now in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, cat. no. 9: 90; two similar jars were included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-6, cat. no. 1949, a jar apparently with cut-down neck from the collection of Dr. E. Hultmark, Stockholm, Sweden, and cat. no. 1952, an example from the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany; another from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the Seattle Art Museum was included in the exhibition Dragons in Chinese Art, China Institute in America, New York, 1972, cat. no. 42; another with cut-down neck in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, the World’s Great Collections, Tokyo, New York, and San Francisco, 1980–82, vol. 10, no. 234. A jar of similar design, but apparently unmarked and of later date, was sold at Christie’s London, 4th June 1973, lot 147.