Chongzhen
Decorated around the upper body with a continuous scene of an official and entourage being presented with gifts by a group of ladies in a luxuriant garden setting, beneath an incised band to the rim, the raised mid-section painted with a continuous pattern of ruyi borne on foliage, above a further incised band and plantain lappets at the foot.
44cm (17 1/4in) high.
Footnotes
Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價
明崇禎 青花繪人物故事圖瓶
Included within the scene depicted on this vase is a lady presenting an archaic bronze vessel known as a jue to a gentleman. This recalls the Chinese idiom jiaguan jinjue 加官進爵 (promotion to higher rank or nobility) which forms a rebus with the word jue. This subject matter was popular throughout the Transitional period. A blue and white jar with a related scene of an official being presented a bronze jue, circa 1620-1644, is illustrated in J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p.381, no.12:75.