Vase
Category
Ceramics
Date
c. 1650
Materials
Hard paste porcelain with underglaze blue (cobalt oxide) and overglaze enamel decoration.
Measurements
482 mm (H)
Place of origin
Jingdezhen
Order this imageCollection
Dunham Massey, Cheshire
NT 929281
Summary
Vase, hard-paste porcelain, sleeve-shaped, i.e. cylindrical with a waisted neck (a shape sometimes called rolwagen), Jingdezhen Jiangxi province, China, c. 1650, decorated in underglaze blue and overglaze wucai ('five colours') enamels with a pair of dragons chasing jewels, surrounded by coloured flames.
Full description
In Chinese art dragons represent the powers of nature, imperial power and benevolence; the jewels chased by dragons symbolise transcendent wisdom; and the coloured flames indicate the presence of supernatural animals. References: Emile de Bruijn, Borrowed Landscapes: China and Japan in the Historic Houses and Gardens of Britain and Ireland, London, Philip Wilson Publishers in association with the National Trust, 2023, pp. 23-4 (fig. 6), and see further references listed there. See also Patricia Bjaaland Welch, Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, Tokyo, Rutland and Singapore, Tuttle, 2008, pp. 121-5. (Emile de Bruijn, November 2023)
