Blue and White Covered Vase with Lizard Handles and Peony Scroll, Ming Dynasty

PP-0116

Description

A blue and white porcelain vase with a broad rounded body and a wide flaring neck, two lizards modelled in the round and washed in blue forming the handles on the shoulder. The main band is a peony scroll, the blossoms shown both full face and in profile among leafy stems. Above it, a diamond-pattern band runs below the shoulder, where phoenixes fly among scrolling clouds and flowers. The neck and the lower body each carry a band of upright panels enclosing flames and small emblems.

The cover is shaped as a leaf with a wavy, blue-edged rim, painted with a fish among lines radiating from a dark blue knob at the centre. The glaze has a fine crackle, and the flat base is unglazed, showing throwing rings. We attribute the vase to the early Ming.

Height 30 cm without cover, 41 cm with cover · Diameter 32 cm · Cover: Diameter 24 cm · Height 11 cm