A CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'QILIN' SLEEVE VASE

SHUNZHI 1644-61

The tall cylindrical body flaring at the rim, painted with a qilin seated in a landscape amidst rockwork and plantain, with pendant leaves and sprays of pomegranate and magnolia below, 40.6cm.

Provenance: acquired in the 1980s.

Cf. J Ayers, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, vol.1, p.128, nos.247 and 248 for two vases with similar decoration; see also R Chen, Qing Shunzhi Kangxi Chao Qinghua Ci (Qing Dynasty Shunzhi and Kangxi Blue and White Porcelain), pp.100-101, no.53 for a related blue and white Shunzhi period sleeve vase decorated with a qilin and phoenix in a rocky landscape above scrolling lingzhi and pendant leaves.