A blue and white globular jar Jiajing kuei mao nian qi cyclical date corresponding to AD1543 and of the period
130
A blue and white globular jar
Jiajing kuei mao nian zhi cyclical date corresponding to AD1543 and of the period
Painted on one side with two seated figures playing weiqi, each attended by a standing boy, the reverse with a scholar and an attendant holding a qin, wood stand.
13.5cm (5¼in) wide (2).
Sold for £43,250 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • Provenance: S.Marchant and Son, London
    The Harriet Szechenyi Collection, Switzerland

    Exhibited: S.Marchant and Son, Ming Blue and White: Jiajing-Chongzhen including dated examples, November 2004, no.6

    It is believed that jars of this particular shape were made to contain weiqi counters. Another one in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, interestingly bears the same date 1543; it is illustrated by M.Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Porcelains Decorated in Underglaze-blue and Copper-red,, London, 1963, no.B643, pl.XIX. Scholars believe that the game of weiqi (surrounding chequers) is the Chinese prototype for what has become the better-known Japanese game called go; see C.A.S.Williams, Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motives, Singapore, 1974, pl.419.

Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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