A pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white sleeve vase

(J240) - A pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white sleeve vases, rolwagens, each painted with a mountainous river landscape scene with three peaks in the distance, one a night scene with houses on stilts beneath stylised clouds and the moon, the other a day scene with fishermen and a figure seated on a rocky promontory beneath a waterfall, each with a band of stiff leaves on the gently flaring necks with anhua bands, the base unglazed revealing the biscuit body with traces of old writing.

One 16 ¾ inches, 42.5 cm, the other 16 ½ inches, 42 cm high.

Chongzhen, circa 1640.

• Formerly in a private French collection

• It is unusual to find a pair of rolwagens. Each of this pair has a similar view of three mountain peaks in the distance, one, a night scene with the moon and no figures, the other a day scene with fishermen in their boats.

• A similar rolwagen also with stiff leaves on the neck bearing an inscription and dated to 1639 is illustrated by Julia B. Curtis, in Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century, China Institute New York City, no. 4, pp. 48-9.