A RARE CHINESE KO-SOMETSUKE MIZUSASHI (WATER JAR AND COVER)

A RARE CHINESE KO-SOMETSUKE MIZUSASHI (WATER JAR AND COVER)

MID-17TH CENTURY

Made for the Japanese market, the large circular body decorated in underglaze blue with a continuous design of two peacocks in a garden, with large flower sprays issuing from rockwork and butterflies fluttering at the back; a band of spirals below the rim; the cover decorated with peony flowers and scrolling tendrils and a further band of spirals, the base inscribed Da Ming Chenghua nian zhi, together with a tomobako wood box, 18.5cm. (3)

This type of Chinese export pieces is rare, and was probably made to order for Japanese marchants and practitioners of the tea ceremony at the end of the Ming Dynasty. This shape doesn't appear in earlier Chinese records, and it seems to have been developed for the Japanese market at a time when demand from the Imperial Chinese court was waning.