RARE LARGE YELLOW AND RED-ENAMELLED 'DRAGON AND PHEONIX' DOUBLE-GOURD VASE MING DYNASTY, JIAJING MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 明嘉靖 青花「大明嘉靖年製」六字楷書款 黃地紅彩龍鳳呈祥紋葫蘆瓶 sturdily potted on a flared foot rising to a larger globular body, waisted middle section, further with a smaller rounded body topped with a tubular mouth, enamelled in iron-red on a yellow ground to leave the designs in reserve, the black enamel outlining dragons and phoenixes with clouds in roundels separated by floral scrolls and auspicious emblems both on lower and upper bulbs, the mouth and middle section each with a floral scroll band, the base inscribed with a six-character Jiajing mark in underglaze blue (43cm high) Qty: (1) Provenance: Formerly in a private English collection Note: During the Jiajing reign, the range of colour combinations on ceramics was expanded. The red enamel painting onto a yellow glaze was an innovation of that time. First, a yellow overglaze was fired onto the ware, then red enamel was added with the designs reverse; later black enamel was used to add the details. [1] Several related examples with dragon and cloud as the motif can be seen on different wares, mainly jars. See a lidded jar with cloud and dragon decoration in overglaze yellow on red ground, Jiajing mark and period, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, museum no. Gu Ci 故瓷6090N; Another comparable jar with more rounded lower sides, without a lid, is in the collection of the British Museum, museum no. 1930,0719.48, and illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no.9:90; Various similar jars were seen in auctions, one sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 07 October 2015, lot 3659, another one previously in the collection of the Manno Art Museum, no. 388 and subsequently sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 Oct 2002, lot 540. A slightly larger (45.1cm high) and less bulbous double gourd vase, decorated with similar colour scheme and technique, but painted with lotus scroll instead of dragons and phoenixes, previously in the collection of the Qing Court, is now in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. [1] Harrison-Hall, J. Ming Ceramics In the British Museum, London: The British Museum Press, 2001, pg. 254.