ewer BM-1963-1219.1

Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1403-1424
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, underglazed,
Subjects:flower lotus
Dimensions:Diameter: 32.40 centimetres Height: 32.40 centimetres

Description:
Porcelain ewer decorated in underglaze blue. This tall ewer has a cylindrical neck, a raised collar, sloping shoulders and sides which taper into a spreading foot. Its elegant handle has a raised rib down the centre and rolled edges, and terminates at both ends in a ruyi head. The faceted spout is partly closed and has a gourd-shaped opening. The ewer is painted around the neck with carnations and around the body with a composite flower scroll, which includes stylized lotus, morning glory, camellia and peony. The handle is painted with lingzhi at top and bottom and with two flowers in between. The foot and base of the neck are adorned with classic scroll, the collar with lappets and the rim with key-fret. Under the spout are five-petalled flowers and scroll work. It is glazed inside and on the base.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:Ewers of this type were also made in white porcelain in the Yongle reign at Zhushan in Jingdezhen but continued to be produced in the succeeding Xuande era in blue-and-white. This blue-and-white example presumably dates to the Yongle era. It has been suggested that Xuande ewers of this type may be distinguished from the Yongle examples as Xuande examples are marked with a Xuande reign mark in a double ring on the base. Handles of the Xuande examples are straighter and do not bow away from the body as the present ewer’s handle does.Such ewers are based on Near Eastern metal work. It is unlikely that the potters at Jingdezhen were copying the twelfth-century metal work which is often proferred as a prototype; instead there may be a closer fifteenth-century prototype in Central Asia or Afghanistan. Two similar ewers are in the Ardebil shrine.