A Chinese Wucai ‘Phoenix and Peony’ Enamel Jar

Qing Dynasty, 19th century
Enamelled porcelain
21.5 cm. / 8 ½ ins high

With a short rim and ovoid body, the sides decorated with two phoenixes amidst a field of scrolling peonies and leaves; between a shoulder enclosed by cloud bands with a field of scrolling lotus flowers on underglaze blue; and a band of striped green and red-tipped leaves to the foot rim. The base with a double-ring in underglaze blue and old brown collector’s label with letters: ‘DQH ZBN’.

Condition: in general good condition. One small chip to the rim and small drill hole to underside.

This jar has a beautiful and complex design consisting of two phoenixes flying amidst a field of scrolling peonies, below an unusually intricate design on the shoulder with scrolling lotus flowers on a blue field enclosed by twisting cloud bands.

For a related jar from earlier in the Qing period, see a 17th-century Wucai jar sold in Christie’s (Fine Chinese Ceramics and works of Art, New York, 13-14 Sep 2018, lot 1356, fig. 1) also decorated with two phoenixes in a peony field. The complex colour palette and additional cloud band design on the shoulder suggest a later dating for the present jar, in the nineteenth century.