A fine blue and white 'dragon' ovoid jar, Qing dynasty, Jiaqing / Daoguang period

Collection of Sir Thomas Beaumont Hohler (1871-1946), and thence by descent. 

Of grand size, meticulously painted in a rich palette of blue hues, this jar is of the highest quality of porcelain made for the imperial court in the early 19th century. The Jiayintang zhi (Made for the Hall of Admirable Protection of Posterity) mark on the base of the jar refers to a hall located on the western side of the Mukden Palace in present day Shenyang, which became a site of pilgrimage and ancestral worship for the imperial household. Looking out over a stage in a secluded western courtyard, Jiayintang – as its name poetically highlights – provided the emperor and his family with shelter as they watched festive performances. The hall was completed in the 48th year of the Qianlong Emperor’s reign (1783) and the hall mark is recorded on Qianlong wares as well as Jiaqing and Daoguang pieces; see Geng Baochang, Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Qingdai Bufen, Taipei, 1984, pp 202-204.

Pieces bearing the Jiayintang hall mark are exceptionally rare and appear seldom on the market. Compare a bowl and cinquefoil dish featuring remarkably similar designs of five-clawed dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls, illustrated in Zhao Congyue, ‘Daoguang yuyong tang mingkuan ciqi (shang) [Porcelains with official Daoguang hallmarks (I)]’, Forbidden City, July 2011, pp 50-61. See also a small number of candlesticks bearing this mark, including a pair from the collection of Leo and Doris Hodroff, sold at Christie's New York, 22nd March 2007, lot 344; and a single candlestick included in the exhibition Late Chinese Imperial Porcelain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1980, cat. no. 12.

Only one other jar of identical design and hall mark appears to be known; offered together with a cover in these rooms, 8th June 1993, lot 72. For related blue and white ovoid jars with five-clawed dragon designs, compare a similarly proportioned jar with a more minimal pair of dragons sold in our Hong Kong rooms 24th May 1981, lot 1594; and another of slightly more slender form featuring a phoenix and five-clawed dragon in flight above crested waves, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 15th November 1983, lot 208.