Vase with decoration of dragons among clouds (one of a pair)

China

Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Yongzheng mark and period (1723–35)

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 219

The technique of incising a very delicate pattern into the surface of a porcelain vessel before covering it with a thick glaze, which obscures the underlying decoration, became popular in the early fifteenth century and was used thereafter. The long, elegant necks and bulbous bodies of these miniature vases most likely derive from an Islamic glass prototype introduced to China centuries earlier.

Vase with decoration of dragons among clouds (one of a pair), Porcelain with incised decoration (anhua) under glaze (Jingdezhen ware), China

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