jar BM-1961-0518.1

Period:Yuan dynasty Production date:1330-1368 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, underglazed,
Subjects:bird leaf lotus
Dimensions:Diameter: 33.40 centimetres Height: 30.20 centimetres Weight: 07.45 kilograms

Description:
Guan jar with underglaze blue decoration. This heavily potted ovoid guan wine jar has a low inward-tapering neck and large mouth opening. It is painted with a bold design, treating the whole surface area as a single canvas. It shows a peacock trailing its tail feathers along the ground, looking back over its shoulder to its mate. Surrounding the two birds are giant tree peonies, plantain leaves, lotus and other flowering plants. The neck is ornamented with a band of white-crested waves.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:Jars of this form but with different underglaze blue decoration were recovered from the Yuan hoard in Baoding, Hebei, in 1964. They were also exported to the Near East, as evidenced by a similar jar with a peacock and peony design in the Ardebil shrine, decorated in addition with a lappet border around the foot. The Ardebil shrine, located some 50 km (30 miles) west of the Caspian Sea, 6,400 km (4,000 miles) from China, had a collection of 1,162 Chinese porcelains dedicated in 1611 by Shah Abbas: blue-and-white, celadons and white wares dating to 1350-1610. Today some 805 porcelains survive from this collection, preserved in the Iran Bastan Museum in Teheran. Another jar of this form but with peony decoration was found in Yenjialing, south of Baotou, and is now in the Inner Mongolia Museum, Hohhot.