Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

These vases, although only slightly later in date than the dishes, [LI1301.144] and [LI1301.384] in the Barlow Collection, are much inferior in quality, which may reflect production by a lesser manufactory or else, the general decline in porcelain quality during the so-called ‘interregnum period’ of the three short reigns Zhengtong (1436 – 1449), Jingtai (1450 – 1456) and Tianshun (1457 – 1464), when porcelain production was not controlled by the court.

The vases taper from a rounded shoulder towards a high flaring foot, and have a short narrow neck. They are somewhat coarsely made and painted with a fairly thick brush in a soft underglaze-blue, with a ruyi border at the shoulder, a broad peony scroll with three blooms and sketchy foliage round the body and a band of sketchy cloud motifs at the foot, all enclosed between double line borders. The base and inside of the foot are unglazed and have red earth adhering, the glaze is somewhat dull and crazed, giving the pieces an off-white appearance.