Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1573-1620 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, underglazed,
Subjects:horse/ass
Dimensions:Height: 5.50 centimetres
Description:
Porcelain jar with underglaze blue decoration. This small globular jar has a raised narrow neck, broad shoulders and a recessed base. Around the outside it is painted in underglaze blue outline on either side with a horse equipped with saddle bags and carrying a small palanquin or sign on its back.
IMG
![图片[1]-jar BM-1946-0715.11-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00267278_001.jpg)
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:A jar of the same size and shape, with a similar but more detailed design of a horse on either side, and with the addition of characters on both the palanquins or signs on the horses’ backs, is in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware in Hong Kong. This jar may provide vital clues to the use of the British Museum’s jar. It is inscribed with the characters 上 品 ‘shang pin’ and 香 茶 ‘xiang cha’, which combine to mean ‘superior fragrant tea’, indicating that it was made as a container for tea leaves.Many stories survive of magical horses in Chinese literature. For example, Red Hare, the horse which the rebel Lu Bu once rode, was captured by General Cao Cao and presented by that false minister to Lord Guan Yu in the epic novel ‘San Guo Zhi Yan Yi’ [Romance of the Three Kingdoms]. Lord Guan Yu was extremely grateful for the horse, which provoked the following conversation: >.In Tibetan art the horse is also one of the Seven Treasures of Royalty, the others being the wheel, jewel, elephant, queen, general and minister. The horse is represented as carrying on its back a single flaming jewel, associating with the idea of the realization of material wishes. As Tibetan lamaism was popular in the sixteenth century and many similar jars are decorated with Tibetan characters, the jar could have Buddhist associations, possibly as a container for incense.
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, underglazed,
Subjects:horse/ass
Dimensions:Height: 5.50 centimetres
Description:
Porcelain jar with underglaze blue decoration. This small globular jar has a raised narrow neck, broad shoulders and a recessed base. Around the outside it is painted in underglaze blue outline on either side with a horse equipped with saddle bags and carrying a small palanquin or sign on its back.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:A jar of the same size and shape, with a similar but more detailed design of a horse on either side, and with the addition of characters on both the palanquins or signs on the horses’ backs, is in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware in Hong Kong. This jar may provide vital clues to the use of the British Museum’s jar. It is inscribed with the characters 上 品 ‘shang pin’ and 香 茶 ‘xiang cha’, which combine to mean ‘superior fragrant tea’, indicating that it was made as a container for tea leaves.Many stories survive of magical horses in Chinese literature. For example, Red Hare, the horse which the rebel Lu Bu once rode, was captured by General Cao Cao and presented by that false minister to Lord Guan Yu in the epic novel ‘San Guo Zhi Yan Yi’ [Romance of the Three Kingdoms]. Lord Guan Yu was extremely grateful for the horse, which provoked the following conversation: >.In Tibetan art the horse is also one of the Seven Treasures of Royalty, the others being the wheel, jewel, elephant, queen, general and minister. The horse is represented as carrying on its back a single flaming jewel, associating with the idea of the realization of material wishes. As Tibetan lamaism was popular in the sixteenth century and many similar jars are decorated with Tibetan characters, the jar could have Buddhist associations, possibly as a container for incense.
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