Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1488-1505 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:fahua
Subjects:religious object leaf flaming jewel dragon
Dimensions:Height: 29.20 centimetres
Description:
Four-sided porcelain vase with side handles and green ‘fahua’-type decoration. This vase has four sides and a square mouth and stands on a square foot ring. Its shape is based on a bronze altar vessel. On either side of the neck are semi-circular handles which emerge from the open mouth of an elephant with tusks and have a flange attached below. Decorative motifs are outlined in raised slip, then infilled with yellow and aubergine enamels and with transparent glaze on an emerald-green ground. The surfaces are divided into bands of decoration. On one face a dragon is shown prancing on its hind legs; on the other face a dragon is shown cavorting on its front paws, above waves. ‘Ruyi’ are portrayed at the corners and a triangular textile with a honeycomb pattern is depicted above with feathery leaves around the neck. On the sides are flaming pearls, ‘ruyi’ clouds and waves. The base is flat and unglazed, revealing a high-fired porcelain body typical of Jingdezhen wares.
IMG
![图片[1]-vase BM-1929-0722.15-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00272427_001.jpg)
Comments:Purchased by Harris from Tongying in November 1926 he paid £350 for a pair. The pair went in 1926 to the V&A. DJ Harrison-Hall 2001:Green ‘fahua’ is rarer than the more popular blue variety but the glaze is of the same lead-alkali type. This yellow, green and aubergine palette is already current at Jingdezhen in the Chenghua period, as evidenced by a rare Chenghua mark and period duck-shaped incense burner, recovered from the late Chenghua stratum at the imperial kiln site at Zhushan, Jingdezhen. Triangular-shaped textile borders are also known from imperial blue-and-white porcelains of the Chenghua era. Trends in imperial ceramics were soon followed and it is likely that the present vase dates to the succeeding Hongzhi period as the dragons are more typical of the Hongzhi period. An identical vase to this British Museum piece was bequeathed by the same donor, Henry B. Harris, to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Materials:porcelain
Technique:fahua
Subjects:religious object leaf flaming jewel dragon
Dimensions:Height: 29.20 centimetres
Description:
Four-sided porcelain vase with side handles and green ‘fahua’-type decoration. This vase has four sides and a square mouth and stands on a square foot ring. Its shape is based on a bronze altar vessel. On either side of the neck are semi-circular handles which emerge from the open mouth of an elephant with tusks and have a flange attached below. Decorative motifs are outlined in raised slip, then infilled with yellow and aubergine enamels and with transparent glaze on an emerald-green ground. The surfaces are divided into bands of decoration. On one face a dragon is shown prancing on its hind legs; on the other face a dragon is shown cavorting on its front paws, above waves. ‘Ruyi’ are portrayed at the corners and a triangular textile with a honeycomb pattern is depicted above with feathery leaves around the neck. On the sides are flaming pearls, ‘ruyi’ clouds and waves. The base is flat and unglazed, revealing a high-fired porcelain body typical of Jingdezhen wares.
IMG
Comments:Purchased by Harris from Tongying in November 1926 he paid £350 for a pair. The pair went in 1926 to the V&A. DJ Harrison-Hall 2001:Green ‘fahua’ is rarer than the more popular blue variety but the glaze is of the same lead-alkali type. This yellow, green and aubergine palette is already current at Jingdezhen in the Chenghua period, as evidenced by a rare Chenghua mark and period duck-shaped incense burner, recovered from the late Chenghua stratum at the imperial kiln site at Zhushan, Jingdezhen. Triangular-shaped textile borders are also known from imperial blue-and-white porcelains of the Chenghua era. Trends in imperial ceramics were soon followed and it is likely that the present vase dates to the succeeding Hongzhi period as the dragons are more typical of the Hongzhi period. An identical vase to this British Museum piece was bequeathed by the same donor, Henry B. Harris, to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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