Diameter: 16 cm; 6 ¼ in
Of drum shape, the flat cover part of the overall drum shape, two small monster-head handles on each side, decorated on the body with two panels of ladies at leisure in terraced landscapes near a pavilion and stylised rock-work, one scene with four ladies, one holding a fan, another a small flower spray, a third bringing forth a tray of fruit and the fourth standing next to a small stool upon which rests a white rabbit, above in the sky the moon and constellations, the other scene again with four ladies standing in a fenced garden near a pavilion, two, one holding a fan, the other her hand up in greeting, standing next to a low table and stools, facing two further ladies one holding a tray upon which rests a small object, the moon and constellations above in the sky, below around the foot a single row of small bosses, continued above around the rim of the cover with again a single row of small bosses, the cover with a flowered diamond pattern interspersed by four shaped cartouches circling a central finial shaped in the form of a Fo-dog high-lighted in gold.
Literature
For an almost identical barrel shaped covered
jar see Christiaan J.A. Jörg in collaboration with Jan
van Campen, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, published by Phillip Wilson and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, London and Amsterdam, 1997, pl. 106 p.110. Here Jörg discusses the purpose of the shape and the small bosses, we quote; "This barrel or drum-shaped jar could be used for all kinds of purposes, but is traditionally called a 'candy pot' by Dutch collectors. It shows the same characteristic row of small bosses as the teapot Cat. No. 144, these probably copying the nails which held the drum-skin of the wooden model." Also see for another very similar covered jar in the Centraal Museum, Utrecht illustrated in D. F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinese Export Porcelain: Chine de Commande, London, 1974, pl. 75, p. 213.
