The Republic was proclaimed on January 1, 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. “Republican China” and “Republican Era” refer to the “Government of Beiyang” (1912 to 1928) and “Nationalist Government” (from 1928 to 1949). In 1949, towards the end of the civil war, the CCP established the People’s Republic of China in Beijing. However, despite this turmoil, the porcelain industry in Jiangxi Province flourished and a number of private kilns began producing high-quality porcelain in Jingdezhen. Not only did these factories produce wares that copied Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong era porcelain, but there was also a revival in quality led by a number of schools and artists, all producing items with delicate painted decorations, with the pieces often being signed. The most famous artists were part of the group ‘The Eight Friends of Zhushan’, which consisted of the artists Wang Yi, Deng Bishan, Xu Zhongnan, Tian Hexian, Wang Dafan, Wang Yeting, Cheng Yiting and Liu Yucen. Very few pieces are unmarked. What we show is a very nicely made large baluster-shaped pot with lid in Chinese porcelain. The horizontal line in the middle indicates that the pot was made in 2 parts. On a light blue white glaze, a scene of several figures indoors and in a landscape is hand-painted around in an overglaze enamel pattern with the colors blue, green, iron-red, purple, yellow and black. This creates a flowing decor, while preserving a sufficient unpainted surface. On the shoulder is a frieze of a diaper pattern in yellow and purple enamel, in which four cartouches are recessed, each painted with light brown lotus flowers with a yellow center. A key fret frieze is brushed on top. The top is only glazed. On this jar is an impressive round lid associated with a slightly curved rim, with diaper pattern and four cartouches, a domed corpus painted with multiple characters and censers, topped with a gilded pine cone handle. The bottom shows a rounded slightly grained but beautiful white base ring without an iron line and is centrally glazed. There is no mark present. This jar with lid has all the hallmarks of late 19th century manufacture or early Republican period. Nice work !

Condition: in very good condition. At the bottom of the handle of the lid there is some loss of glaze and gold is somewhat worn and a small firing flaw.