A CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE `FIGURAL` DOUBLE GOURD VASE Transitional Period, circa 1644 Painted to the exterior with a scene depicting an official receiving news from a messenger in a garden landscape, stood in the shade of a parasol held aloft by an attendant as several more look on, the backdrop with distant mountain ranges enveloped by thick clouds, all below bands of flowerheads issuing from undulating leafy stems and chevrons, the upper section painted with a lone scholar sat in a woodland clearing, the neck decorated with leafy palmettes, 34.5cm high Provenance: Private collection, UK. 過渡期 約1644年 青花人物故事圖紋葫蘆瓶 來源： 英國私人收藏。 A comparable double gourd vase, dated to the Chongzhen period, was sold at Sotheby`s New York, 24th June 2020, lot 999. Note: The scene decorating the present lot possibly depicts the story of Emperor Yao, the first sage-king of China`s `Golden Age`, a mythical time that predated the Xia Dynasty, asking Xu You, a reclusive sage and cowherd, to assume the reins of government.