A doucai 'lotus and chrysanthemum' jar and cover, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 鬪彩番蓮團菊紋蓋罐 《大清乾隆年製》款

Jars of this form painted in the subtle doucai palette with floral roundels, were inspired by porcelain ware made in the Chenghua period (r. 1465-1487). While no original example of this exact design appears to have been recorded, roundels of chrysanthemum are well known on Chenghua mark and period bowls and cups, such as a bowl excavated from the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty II, Beijing, 2016, pl. 155, together with a cup, pl. 179.

A closely related jar and cover, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain, vol. 2, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 24; another in the Nanjing Museum, is published in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 224; a pair in the Tianjin Museum, Tianjin, is illustrated in Porcelains from the Tianjin Municipal Museum, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 177; and a further pair is published in Min Shin no bijutsu [Ming and Qing Art], Tokyo, 1982, pl. 170.