late 18th century, underglaze blue decoration depicting a walled city with pagoda style buildings, seaside warehouses and boats, diaper borders with foliage and butterflies, double strap twisted handles, strawberry form finial on lid, 8-1/4 x 13-1/4 x 8-1/2 in.

Provenance: Private Collection, New York City

Note: A similar example is pictured in Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum by William R. Sargent, 2012, page 144.
“A view of the city of Guangzhou (Canton) and, in the far distance, the White Cloud Mountains (Baiyunshan) decorate these examples from a possibly unique dinner service, which also includes two plates in the PEM collection. Beyond the crenelated wall surrounding the city at the Pearl River’s edge can be seen the three landmarks that would have been familiar to all traders and remain there today: from left to right, the Flowery Pagoda, the tenth-century Mohammedan or Plain Tower (Guangta), and the Watchtower, or Pavilion Overlooking the Sea (Zhenhai Lou). Small boats on the river are shown in front of a few buildings on stilts that remain outside the city walls, and just left of center one of these buildings displays the Chinese characters that translate as acme or zenith... Other related works: Christie's South Kensington, May 11, 2000, (lot 292)... tureen, S. Marchant and Sons, London, July 1993..."