A blue and white pear-shaped vase, yuhuchunping & a white-glazed jar and cover. Yuan dynasty, 14th century

A very rare blue and white pear-shaped vase, yuhuchunping. Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) Image 2009 Christie's Ltd

Freely painted to the body in deep purplish tones with a dignitary wearing long flowing robes in an outdoor setting, the reverse with a full grown buck, divided by rocky outcrops issuing foliage and below stylised cloud scrolls and mountain peaks, 10 3/4in. (27.5 cm.) high. Price Realized HK$980,000 ($127,054)

元 青花人物圖玉壺春瓶

Provenance: Previously sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 25 October 1993, lot 715

Notes: Human subjects are rarely found on Yuan blue and white porcelain. A preference for symmetry and the novelty of secular themes may have something to do with this, though earlier Cizhou pieces employed a number of human themes. 'The Romance of the Three Kingdoms', Sanguo Yanyi, became highly popular at this time, and was adapted for blue and white decoration; see Chinese Art Under the Mongols, Cleveland 1968, Catalogue, no. 139. Examples with further lotus bands around the base and neck are in the Idemitsu Art Gallery, Tokyo, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Shogakukan Series, vol. 13, colour pl. 59; another in the Umezaqa collection is illustrated by M. Medley, Yuan Porcelain and Stoneware, no. 38A.

Compare also with a vase sold at Christie's London, 6 June 1988, lot 147 and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 18 March 1991, lot 517.

A very rare carved white-glazed jar and cover. Yuan dynasty, 14th century Image 2009 Christie's Ltd

The globular body tapering to the foot, finely carved on the broad rounded sides with a wide lotus scroll, the large flowers borne alternately upright and pendent on an undulating double-lined stem growing leaves, all set against a combed ground, above a band of lappets enclosing pendent trefoils, a classic scroll around the shoulder, the domed cover carved with further lappets radiating from the bud-shaped finial, applied overall with a clear bluish tinged transparent qingbai glaze leaving the unglazed foot ring encircling the slightly countersunk base, 15 3/4 in. (40 cm.) overall height with lid - Price Realized HK$500,000 ($64,824)

元 青白釉纏枝蓮紋蓋罐

Notes: No other jars carved with scrolling lotus on the wide body appear to have been published, although examples carved with dragon motifs are known such as the excavated jar now in the Shangdong Provincial Museum, illustrated by Ye Peilan, Yuandai Ciqi, Beijing, 1998, p. 219, pl. 68; and another from a 14th century shipwreck, included in the Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off Sinan Coast, National Museum of Korea, 1977, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 164. A comparable example carved with detached sprays of lotus and peony above pendent lappets was sold at Sotheby's London, 10 December 1985, lot 121.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 1 December 2009. Hong Kong www.christies.com