A YELLOW-GROUND BLUE AND WHITE 'SQUIRRELS AND GOURDS' LOBED JAR, WANLI China, Wanli period (1573-1619) or slightly later, 1600-1640. Thickly potted, the eight-lobed globular body rising from the ring foot to a short lobed neck, finely painted in underglaze blue with a continuous pattern of squirrels climbing among gourd vines against the yellow-enameled ground. Framed by lappet borders above the foot and below the neck, the neck with a key-fret band. Provenance: Old Belgian private collection. Condition: Excellent condition with old wear, firing flaws, one short and hardly visible hairline to the neck. The vase is not ground down, a fact which is proven by several clearly visible glaze overflows on top of the neck rim. Weight: 1,253 g Dimensions: Height 13.7 cm, Width 17.5 cm Expert's note: It is well-known that Wanli-period yellow-ground blue and white porcelains are extremely rare, as the enameling process at the time was prohibitively painstaking even for the simplest of forms. This can be seen in the present jar, where several enameling flaws are evident, the most obvious in the lower lappet border. Thus, it comes as no surprise that no yellow-ground examples of this particularly complex form (or even with the same decoration for that matter) have been recorded in private or public collections. However, the example in the British Museum (see Literature comparison) shows this exact form and decoration, and therefore the present lot is given the same dating. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related jar, of identical form and decoration, but of slightly larger size (16.2 cm high) and without the yellow-enameled ground, in the collection of the British Museum, museum number 1984,0202.48. 萬曆黃地青花松鼠葫蘆紋瓜棱罐 中國，萬曆 (1573-1619) 或晚些，1600-1640年。厚胎，短頸成瓜棱形。釉下彩繪精美，主體紋飾為葫蘆紋，其上有幾隻松鼠藏匿於葫蘆之間，上下跳躍。 來源：比利時私人收藏。 品相：狀況極佳，舊時磨損，燒製缺陷，頸部有一條短但幾乎看不見的細縫。 罐沒有打碎過，這可以通過頸部邊緣的幾個清晰可見的釉料溢出來證明。 重量：1,253 克 尺寸：高13.7 厘米, 寬 17.5 厘米 專家注釋：眾所周知，萬曆年間的黃地青花瓷器極為稀有，因為當時的琺瑯工藝即使是最簡單的，工序也是極其複雜的。 這可以在目前的罐子中看到，其中有幾個明顯的琺瑯瑕疵，最明顯的是在下圈的邊緣。因此，毫不奇怪，這種特別複雜的形式（或類似裝飾）沒有被記錄在私人或公共收藏中。然而，大英博物館收藏一個相似的來自萬曆年間的松鼠葫蘆紋瓜棱罐。由此得出此拍品的年代。