A VERY RARE YELLOW-GROUND AND IRON-RED DECORATED 'DRAGON' JAR MARK AND PERIOD OF JIAJING |

potted with a baluster body supported on a recessed base and surmounted by a short neck, the exterior brightly decorated with an overglaze yellow enamel partially covered by a design-bearing iron red, depicting two five-clawed dragons soaring sinuously amidst ruyi clouds and flaming wisps, all above a band of foaming waves crashing against rockwork skirting the base, the detail and outlines picked out in black, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark

There is characteristic wear to the enamels on the outside, as well as minute flakes to the rim and near the base.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Contrasting colours and longevity motifs are perhaps the two most characteristic features of Jiajing imperial porcelains. The juxtaposition of the imperial five-clawed dragon with sprays of longevity fungus, instead of the usual lotus scrolls, links the ruler in a most obvious symbolism to long life, and reflects the Jiajing Emperor's fervent pursuit of longevity and attachment to Daoist practises promising the attainment of immortality. The auspicious message is here carried through even in the colour scheme, where yellow, the imperial colour, is surrounded by red, the colour of good luck. Combinations of two different glaze colours are characteristic of the Jiajing reign, but the present one is a rare case where the two colours are superimposed and had to be fired at different times and different temperatures. A jar of this design from the Avery Brundage Collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics. A New Standard Guide, London, 1996, pl. 483; another in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Iron in the Fire, Oxford, 1988, cat. no. 64; one in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, is illustrated in Toyo toji meihin zuroku [Catalogue of masterpieces of Oriental ceramics], Matsuoka Bijutsukan, Tokyo, 1991, cat. no. 82, Similar jars from the collections of Stephen D. Winkworth, George Eumorfopoulos and Mrs Alfred Clark, respectively, were sold in our London rooms 25th April 1933, lot 382; 30th May 1940, lot 286; and 24th March 1953, lot 65; one from the collection of J.M. Hu was sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 7; another in these rooms, 12th May 1976, lot 51 and again 16th May 1989, lot 28, from the British Rail Pension Fund; and one from the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 706, and sold in these rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 66.

A Jiajing jar of this design with cover is compared with a Qianlong version, both from the Palace Museum Collection in Beijing in Li Zhiyan, Virginia L. Bower and He Li, Chinese Ceramics from the Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty, New Haven and London, 2010, p. 611.