Beschreibung:

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND IMPORTANT BLUE AND WHITE JAR, GUAN YUAN DYNASTY, MID-14TH CENTURY Sturdily potted standing on a broad, low foot rising to a full rounded shoulder below a short cylindrical neck, vividly painted in a deep and vibrant cobalt blue around the body with a continuous narrative scene to depict four figures grouped in two pairs, the first pair including an elegant court lady wearing long robes decorated with cloud scroll motifs and with her hair in a high chignon, holding a white handkerchief and turned toward her shorter female companion who also holds a handkerchief in one hand and is standing with her right arm outstretched as if indicating the way, the scene set in a stylised garden with lingzhi fungus, ferns and grasses in clusters and flanked by angular outcrops of ornamental rocks with plantain leaves behind, entwined with peonies on one side and bamboo on the other, an arching tree branch overhead and a low fence to one side with lotus-bud finials on the uprights joined by rectangular panels painted with spiky white-capped waves, leading to an open pavilion with raised, chequered floor and double-rail balustrade above low walls, under hanging willow branches and with a three character inscription Jinxiang Ting , 'Pavilion of Fragrant Brocade', over the entrance, the two other figures standing on either side of a flowering S-shaped rose branch, the lady wearing a checked robe and with ornamental combs in her hair, gesturing with her left hand and with her right hand concealed beneath the long, hanging sleeve, the man wearing the headdress of a court official and turned away from the lady in a haughty manner, the shoulder of the jar with a continuous peony scroll bearing eight blooms borne on an undulating vine with pointed leaves, the neck with a boldly drawn border of breaking waves and the foot with a ring of eleven lotus petal panels enclosing pendent trefoils and circles, the blue of richly mottled purplish colour, the interior covered with a transparent glaze of bluish tinge, the shallow cut foot rim and the base both unglazed 10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm.) high, box