c1650 Chinese Transitional Period Blue & White Stoneware Vase

An unusual and very attractive original Chinese c1650 good size 2 handled baluster shaped stoneware vase, decorated in a blue and white glaze.
The vase is unusual in that it has elements which make it Ming Dynasty period, but the painted decoration, with the use of prunus flowers appears more like early Qing Dynasty. We believe that it is therefore Transitional Period, from Ming to Qing (1620 – 1680). The vase is decorated with 2 central cartouches that contain a floral bush with birds and insects. The borders are decorated in blue with prunus flowers, but not branches that appear as decoration in later wares. There are 2 small handles with relief flower design around the neck of the vase. The underside of the vase is glazed in white with just the rim showing the light brown of the stoneware pottery. There are no reign marks. Condition is very good with just a little frittering of the glaze on the rim of the vase.
The Transitional Period is a term used in the West to describe Chinese porcelain made during the turbulent times that befell China in the 17th Century. From the disintegration of the Ming Dynasty and its eventual collapse in 1644 through the troubled start of a new `Foreign` Qing dynastic house.
Size: 19 x 35.5 cm (7 ½ x 14 inches)
Weight: 2370