A large Chinese blue and white 'Seven Sages of... Lot n° 858

H.: 55,5 cm  Condition: (UV-checked) - In quasi excellent condition, with a few short glaze lines on the ring of the handle. - A number of baking flaws throughout, especially around the handle. - Two small burst glaze bubbles on the top rim.  品相：（已用紫外线光检查） - 近乎全品，除了双耳上有一些细小的惊釉。- 双耳上和周边有一些窑裂，罐身几处缩釉。- 口沿上两个小爆釉。  Ref.:- A closely related example was sold in these rooms on Oct. 31, 2020, lot 221. (link available on our website rm-auctions.com) (sold: €76.500 - with some restoration) - A related example in blue, white and copper-red was sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong on Oct. 9, 2020, lot 3602. (link available on our website rm-auctions.com) (sold: HKD 4.773.000)  The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (also known as the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove, traditional Chinese: 竹林七賢; simplified Chinese: 竹林七贤; pinyin: ZhúlIn Qī Xian; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tiok-lîm Chhit Hian) were a group of Chinese scholars, writers, and musicians of the third century. Although the various individuals all existed, their interconnection is not entirely certain. Several of the seven were linked with the Qingtan school of Daoism as it existed in the state of Cao Wei.  The Seven Sages found their lives to be in danger when the avowedly "Confucian" Jin dynasty of the Sima clan came to power. Among other things, some of the seven wrote poems criticizing the court and the administration, and wrote Daoist-influenced literature. Not all seven sages had similar views. Some of the seven tried to negotiate their way through the difficult political positions by self-consciously adopting the roles of alcohol-fueled pranksters and eccentrics avoiding government control (for example, Liu Ling), yet some ended up joining the Jin dynasty (for example Wang Rong). However much they may or may not have been personally engaged in "witty conversation or debates" (qingtan), they became the subjects of it themselves in 'A New Account of the Tales of the World' (Chinese: 世說新語; pinyin: Shìshuō Xīnyǔ).