**A massive Chinese blue and white dragon jar

**A massive Chinese blue and white dragon jar, painted with two five clawed dragons pursuing each other above breaking waves, the spray over the rocks forming stylized shou characters, all below a band of scrolling lingzhi, six character Wanli mark and of the period 1573-1619, some restoration, 50.5cm. A jar of this design is illustrated in Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istambul, London, 1986, vol. II, no.1328; and a similar piece with cover illustrated in Ma Xigwai (ed.), Beauty of Ceramics. Blue and White Porcelain, Taipei, 1993, pl.55.