Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1573-1620
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted, underglazed,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Diameter: 55 centimetres Height: 48 centimetres
Description:
Large porcelain vat with underglaze blue and overglaze yellow, red and green enamels. This very large heavily potted vat has straight sides which flare out from the base to the thickened-edge rim. Outside it is decorated with two sinewy five-clawed dragons with open jaws, staring eyes, extended tongues and bifurcated tails, prancing on a ‘lingzhi’ scroll ground. The dragons and the outlines of the ‘lingzhi’ scroll are in underglaze blue and then the scroll work is filled in with yellow enamel. Beneath the rim there is a double rectangle, enclosing a horizontal six-character Wanli reign mark in underglaze blue. The rim is ornamented with blue-outlined ‘ruyi’ heads infilled with red and green enamel. Inside it is glazed blue-white. The base is unglazed and has fired brick-red.
IMG
![图片[1]-vat BM-1931-0511.1-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00254394_001.jpg)
![图片[2]-vat BM-1931-0511.1-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_01092497_001.jpg)
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:An identical vat is in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow. Containers like this may have been made to house ornamental fish or to grow lotus, but because of the dragon design it is conceivable that such vats were part of a set made for a tomb to contain everlasting lamps – wicks floating in a vat of oil. The everlasting lamps in the Ding Ling are stockier than the present vat and are marked with a Jiajing reign mark. Such large bowls required seven days of gentle heat, followed by two days of intense heat, then the fire died down and the kiln cooled for up to ten days. For nineteen days potters had to be extremely careful not to allow excess air into the kiln which would spoil the vessels and yet they had to stoke the fuel regularly.
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted, underglazed,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Diameter: 55 centimetres Height: 48 centimetres
Description:
Large porcelain vat with underglaze blue and overglaze yellow, red and green enamels. This very large heavily potted vat has straight sides which flare out from the base to the thickened-edge rim. Outside it is decorated with two sinewy five-clawed dragons with open jaws, staring eyes, extended tongues and bifurcated tails, prancing on a ‘lingzhi’ scroll ground. The dragons and the outlines of the ‘lingzhi’ scroll are in underglaze blue and then the scroll work is filled in with yellow enamel. Beneath the rim there is a double rectangle, enclosing a horizontal six-character Wanli reign mark in underglaze blue. The rim is ornamented with blue-outlined ‘ruyi’ heads infilled with red and green enamel. Inside it is glazed blue-white. The base is unglazed and has fired brick-red.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:An identical vat is in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow. Containers like this may have been made to house ornamental fish or to grow lotus, but because of the dragon design it is conceivable that such vats were part of a set made for a tomb to contain everlasting lamps – wicks floating in a vat of oil. The everlasting lamps in the Ding Ling are stockier than the present vat and are marked with a Jiajing reign mark. Such large bowls required seven days of gentle heat, followed by two days of intense heat, then the fire died down and the kiln cooled for up to ten days. For nineteen days potters had to be extremely careful not to allow excess air into the kiln which would spoil the vessels and yet they had to stoke the fuel regularly.
© Copyright
The copyright of the article belongs to the author, please keep the original link for reprinting.
THE END
