A RARE CHINESE IMPERIAL BLUE AND WHITE 'DRAGON' JAR

SIX CHARACTER WANLI MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 1573-1620

The sides decorated with two ferocious five-clawed dragons chasing flaming pearls amidst clouds and a mountainous landscape, all beneath a register of scrolling lingzhi and above crashing waves resting upon an overlapping band of plantain leaves, with a six character mark arranged in two columns enclosed by double circles to the base, together with a reticulated wood stand and cover, with a paper label for Bluett & Sons, London, to the underside of the stand, 12.5cm. (3)

Provenance: supplied to Bluett's by E Gordon Lowder, and later purchased by Mr Charles Sydney Cheston, painter, d.1960, and thence by descent. Recorded in Charles Cheston's 1946 catalogue as purchased from Bluett & Sons in 1924. Bluett's letter to Lowder of 27th January 1926 encloses a statement of account which includes payment of £12:10 for this vase; cf. R Davids & D Jellinek, Provenance, p.302 for further information about E Gordon Lowder.

Cf. Enlightening Elegance: Imperial Porcelain of the Mid to Late Ming, The Huaihaitang Collection, p.368, no.118 for a very similarly decorated Wanli blue and white 'dragon' jar.