Dynasty, Jiajing Period Wucai Large Jar with Mandarin Ducks in a Lotus Pond

拍品描述

Dimensions 34.8 cm (approximately 13.70 in); Jiajing Period, 16th centuryCondition and Provenance in well-preserved condition, retaining its complete broad mouth, short neck, full shoulders, rounded body, and base. The wucai decoration of mandarin ducks, lotus pond, birds, floral sprays, and wave borders remains clear, with red, green, yellow, underglaze blue, and darker outlining colors well preserved. The glaze has a mellow, glossy surface with minor wear and traces consistent with long-term handling and display. Light old wear is visible around the mouth and foot. The base bears a six-character “Da Ming Jiajing Nianzhi” mark in underglaze blue within double circles. From a private collection in California, United States, with a history of family ownership overseas.Description large Jiajing-period wucai jar stands 34.8 cm high and has the broad, confident proportions associated with major decorative jars of the mid-Ming period. The vessel is formed with a wide mouth, short constricted neck, full rounded shoulders, a swelling body, and a lower section that gradually narrows toward the base. The silhouette is substantial without feeling cumbersome, providing an ideal surface for the densely painted bird-and-lotus composition. The neck is framed by fine underglaze-blue lines and decorated with small floral sprays, lingzhi-like scrolls, and auspicious motifs painted in red, green, blue, and touches of yellow. Below this, the shoulder carries a continuous band of ruyi-shaped and petal-like units filled with alternating colors. The repeated forms establish a clear ornamental transition between the mouth and the much freer pictorial field below. The body is covered with an animated lotus-pond scene filled with mandarin ducks, other water birds, flowering lotus, aquatic plants, branches, and scattered blossoms. Several pairs of mandarin ducks swim through the water, some side by side and others following one another through clusters of lotus leaves. Their plumage is picked out in combinations of iron red, green, underglaze blue, and dark outlining, giving each bird a distinct character while keeping the palette unified. Additional birds fly above, rest near the water, or move among the flowers and foliage. The lotus plants are rendered with considerable variety. Broad leaves are filled in rich green and articulated with fine vein lines, while blossoms range from fully open flowers to half-open buds and smaller blooms. Some petals are outlined in red, others touched with lighter colors, and the flower centers are accented with stronger pigment. Tall stems rise through the scene and intersect with reeds, flowering branches, and other aquatic vegetation, creating a layered, almost panoramic garden environment. The water itself is indicated with repeated green and blue wave lines, giving the birds a convincing sense of movement across the pond. Above the main water level, small birds and cloud-like forms introduce an aerial register, so the decoration feels less like a flat pattern and more like a complete natural setting. Scattered flowering sprays and fruiting branches fill selected spaces between the birds, but the painter preserves enough white ground to keep the composition readable.

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