Detail View: National Palace English: Square brush washer with incised phoenix design in green and bright yellow enamels

Work ID: 
M01A00099
Title: 
Square brush washer with incised phoenix design in green and bright yellow enamels
Creation Date: 
Jia-jing reign, Ming Dynasty
Start Year Date: 
A.D.1522
End Year Date: 
A.D.1566
Dynasty: 
57 Jia-jing reign (A.D. 1522~1566)
Kiln: 
Jia-jing ware
Creation Place: 
China
Measurements: 
Height: 9.0 cm; Diameter (mouth): 19.6 x 19.6 cm
Material: 
Porcelain
Form: 
Xi or Pen(basins)
Type: 
Ceramics
Subject: 
Phoenix
Repository: 
The National Palace Museum, Taipei
Description: 
This ware has an exceptional form with deep, expanding walls springing from a squared foot. The changing curvature of the wall makes the ware interesting. The ware is decorated with phoenix, cranes, and other auspicious symbols on the exterior and the interior. With respect to the decorative motifs, the silhouette was first incised, and then it was colored with green enamel. The ground was then coated with yellow enamel. The four sides of the ware show phoenixes and cranes flying through flowers. Below is a pattern of banana leaves, and the foot ring is adorned with twisting branches. A band of lingzhi scrolls decorates the interior rim. The interior bottom shows a square, in which a flying phoenix on the right and a flying crane on the left sandwich a seal-script character, "shou," rendered in lingzhi. A cloud pattern fills the blank area of the square. The base shows the six-character reign mark, "made in the Jiaqing period of the Great Ming" in cobalt blue, regular script against white ground.
ImageV ID: 
M01A00099AS003
Rights: 
Lee & Lee Communications