Imperial blue and white deep saucer, pan. The base with six-character mark of Jiajing within a double ring in underglaze blue and of the period, 1522-1566. Photo courtesy Marchant
with flat everted rim, painted in the centre with a crane on one leg with its head turned, on a rocky promontory, beside a large pine tree with lingzhi and bamboo, with further rocks in the distance, all beneath stylised clouds, encircled within a double ring, the rim with a continuous band of scrolls on a bluewashed ground, the underside with grass sprays beneath flowerheads and branches. 12cm diameter. Price on request
• Formerly in a British private collection.
• A related small saucer of this form, painted with two cranes and pine is illustrated by Regina Krahl and John Ayers in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, A Complete Catalogue, Volume II, Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains, 1986, no. 1152, collection no. 15/2643, pp. 692/3.
Marchant. 'Chinese Ceramics Tang to Qing' exhibiting tuesday 6th may - friday 30th may 2014 - http://www.marchantasianart.com/