西川茂

JAR, Blue-and-white with design of fish and water plants in a lotus pond

DesignationImportant Cultural Property
Date1Yuan dynasty
Date214th century
KilnJingdezhen ware
Height(cm)28.2
Diameter(cm)33.4
Weight(g)6060
CollectionThe ATAKA Collection
Credit LineThe Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (gift of SUMITOMO Group, the ATAKA Collection), photograph by NISHIKAWA Shigeru
Accession No.00728
DescriptionThe form of this large jar appeared in the Yuan dynasty, and such jars were also decorated with qingbai glaze, underglaze copper red and celadon glaze. Known in Japan as shukaiko, meaning "jar for wine gatherings", such jars originally had a lid and contained liquid such as wine. The center of the body bears a decoration of several types of fish swimming spontaneously in the lotus pond. Design of fish and water plants is a common motif found in Yuan ceramics, also popularly adopted in folk paintings of the Jiangnan region or the southern area of the Yangzi River. The Chinese word for fish is yu, which is homonymous with the word for "abundance", making the fish an auspicious motif symbolizing abundance of wealth. It is also a symbol of prosperity of posterity, for fish lay many eggs. This is undoubtedly one of the masterworks of the Yuan blue-and-white ware in terms of the outstanding workmanship in every element, including the form, decoration and the color of the cobalt blue.
URL for TIFF imageshttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mBM4uNwp8VWZLVXdWHP1YfBHeWpWRDhF?usp=sharing

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