A small doucai jar, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795). Estimate 15,000 – $25,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015
The tapering body is decorated with a formal design of chrysanthemum roundels alternating with lotus arabesques, all of the flowers picked out in iron red or yellow, arranged in two registers between blue-ground ruyi borders above and below. 4 5/8 in. (11.8 cm.) high
Provenance: Private American collection, acquired in the 1950s-60s.
Notes: The design on this jar is a Qing adaption of a design of medallions of chrysanthemums and butterflies seen on Chenghua jars, such as the jar from the Qing Court collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 38 - Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong 1999, pl. 166.
Similar Qianlong-marked jars include a pair in the Tianjian Art Museum illustrated in Chinese Treasures of 5000 Years, Japan, 1985, no. 46; and another pair is illustrated in Min Shin no bijutsu (The Art of Ming and Qing), Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, 1980, p. 43, no. 1-192. See, also, the pair sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2013, lot 3209.
Christie’s. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 17 - 18 September 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza