Collection online

flask

• Object type

  • flask

• Museum number

  PDF.662

• Description

  Porcelain flask of flattened globular form, with wide long neck tapering in the middle. There is a three-clawed dragon in reserve against a background of waves in underglaze cobalt blue on the exterior, a wide band of scrolling lotus flowers on the neck, and scrolling lotus leaves below the mouth rim.

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• Culture/period

  • Yongle
  • Ming dynasty

• Date

  • 1403-1424

• Production place

  • Made in: Jingdezhen
  • (Asia,China,Jiangxi (province),Jingdezhen)

• Materials

  • porcelain

• Technique

  • underglazed

• Dimensions

  • Height: 446 millimetres
  • Weight: 7.2 kilograms

• Curator's comments

  Published PDF date : Ming early 15th centuryRoom 95 label text:

  PDF 662

  Flask with white dragons on blue waves

  
  Both the Yongle (AD1403—24) and Xuande (AD1426—35) emperors sponsored important maritime trade and diplomatic missions to the Middle East. The form of this flask was not originally Chinese but was inspired by a Middle Eastern shape, possibly an enamelled glass vessel. During both the Yongle and Xuande emperors’ reigns, flasks in this large, heavy, bulbous form with variations to the decoration were made at the imperial kilns at Zhushan珠山 in Jingdezhen. Archaeologists unearthed a flask identical to this one with white dragons with incised details on blue waves, in 1994 at Dongmentou東門頭, Zhushan, Jingdezhen, from the Yongle strata. The imperial household probably used such flasks as wine decanters but also traded them as evidenced by similar flasks in the Topkapi Saray in Turkey and from the Ardabil Shrine in Iran.

  
  Porcelain with incised and underglaze cobalt-blue decoration
  Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province 江西省, 景德鎮
  Ming dynasty, Yongle period, AD 1403–24

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• Bibliography

  • Hobson 1934 p. 121, pl. CXX
  • Medley 1976 p.26, no.662
  • Pierson 2004 p.38, no.662
  • Scott 1989b p.72, no.60
  • Pierson 2004A pp 42-43, no.13
  • Scott 1989a pp 60-61, no.31
  • Krahl & Harrison-Hall 2009 pp 62-63, no.29

• Location

  G95/dc58

• Exhibition history

  Exhibited:

  2014 Sep-2015 Jan, BM WCEC, 'Ming: 50 years that changed China'

• Conservation

  See treatments 

  Treatment date

  12 August 2014

  Reason for treatment

  Temporary Exhibition

  Treatment proposal

  Surface clean.

  Condition

  Slight surface dust

  Treatment details

  Each of the objects was cleaned with swabs dampened in a 1:20 solution of Synperonic N (non ionic detergent,nonylphenol ethylene oxide condensate): distilled water. Swabs dampened in distilled water removed any traces of detergent. Each object was dried with soft tissue.

  About these records 

• Acquisition name

  • On loan from: Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art

• Acquisition notes

  R. L. Hobson, 1934 records: Cf. Zimmermann, Meisterwerke der Turkischen Musee zu Konstantinopel, Vol.2, Pl. 38.

• Department

  Asia

• Registration number

  PDF.662