A FINE CHINESE IMPERIAL GREEN-ENAMELLED 'DRAGON' JAR AND COVER

SIX CHARACTER QIANLONG MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 1736-95

The ovoid body rising to a rounded shoulder and a short straight neck, painted in rich tones of green enamel with two five-clawed dragons striding amidst wispy clouds and flames in pursuit of flaming pearls, beneath a border of the Eight Buddhist Emblems, Bajixiang around the shoulder and a band of lotus lappets encircling the base, the flat cover decorated with a writhing dragon chasing a flaming pearl above a ruyi-head border, with a paper label inscribed: 'Green & white jar; from Peking Oct.6 1879. Arrived Shales and unpacked Dec. 12. 1879. very good.' Together with a wood stand, 20.5cm. (3)

Provenance: from the collection of Admiral Robert Coote CB (1820-1898), and thence by descent.

Admiral Coote enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1833. He was made Commander of HMS Volcano from 1845, HMS Victory from 1860, HMS Gibraltar from 1864 and HMS Arethusa from 1867. In 1874 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Queenstown and served as Commander-in-Chief of the China Station between 1878-1881.

Cf. Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, p.156, pl.114, for a green-enamelled jar of this design.