A rare blue and white tankardChongzhen, circa 1640|The tapering cylindrical vessel finely painted with two young scholars conversing in a garden, the scene framed between lappet border at the foot and a foliate band at the mouth, flanked with a loop handle. |19cm (7.5in) high|Provenance|For a comparable example, dated c. 1635-44, in the British Museum collection, see J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London 2001, p. 359, 12:11.