Ming blue-and-white vase
The Chinese porcelain the whole world wanted: cobalt under clear glaze, from the Xuande emperor’s reign.
Under the Xuande emperor (1426–1435) blue-and-white porcelain reached a peak. It was exported by the Silk Road and by sea to Persia, Turkey and later Europe. Examples are in the Palace Museum in Beijing, the British Museum and the Topkapı Palace.
Materials: Porcelain painted in cobalt blue under the glaze
Manufacture: The cobalt gathered in dark spots where it lay thick – the ‘heaped and piled’ effect later imitated.
The dark specks in the blue where the iron in the cobalt crystallised.
The six-character reign mark under the base.