Fine Rare Lotus Jar
Marked and of the Xuande period (1426-1435)

Stoutly potted semi-large guan shaped blue and white porcelain jar. The sides are decorated with a lotus scroll motif in sapphire Mohammedan cobalt blue, which exhibits a
luminous aura. The large many-petalled blossoms are surrounded by alternating double trefoil leaves, in between lotus petal borders of lotus blossom motif stiff overlapping rounded shoulder. The wide short neck, is rounded with a classic scroll pattern below the lipped rim. A well proportioned six-character mark is written horizontally along the shoulder.
The base is unglazed, exhibiting a spiral cutting line in a gray-white biscuit burnt pale brown-red from the firing.

CONDITION:
Fine with no chips, breaks or fractures.

MEASUREMENTS:

SERIOUS ENQUIRIES ONLY PLEASE.

REMARKS:

Ming dynasty blue and white can exhibit an aura all of it's own, resulting in a fine sapphire blue found only in Mohammedan blue cobalt. This blue cobalt lacks magnesium and tends to make the cobalt run with the glaze, what I call "ghosting". Arsenic is present in Mohammedan blue cobalt and when fired pulls the glaze into pools near and around the painted motifs which gives the glaze a fatty feel. Indigenous Chinese blue cobalt shows off a more gray tone, while Mohammedan blue cobalt, in its pure form, blankets the object painted with almost jewel sapphire blue.

Guan vases like this one are quite rare, not because of the shape, but due to the lotus motif painted on it. Very few examples of this type have survived.

REFERENCES:
Capital Museum, Beijing
Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 14, 1976, color plate 20