A wucai 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' jar


Shunzhi/KangxiThe tapering exterior painted in underglaze-blue and enamelled in four further colours with a garden scene with Liu Bei, Guanyu and Zhang Fei along with other warriors and courtiers and attendants, all below a waisted neck with peony and rockwork above a cracked ice border.33cm (13in) high
|The scene on the present lot illustrates chapter fifteen of 三國演義 sanguoyanyi or 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' and is called 'Lü Bu Saves Liu Bei With a Feat of Marksmanship'. Ji Ling, a Shu general, arrives into Liu Bei's camp with the intention of declaring war. The hot-headed generals all want to fight but the warlord Lü Bu comes up with a plan to bring peace. He makes them all agree to withdraw their troops if he can fire an arrow into the blade of a standing halberd one-hundred and fifty paces away. Of course, his aim is true and the battle is averted.