How does Covered jar with carp design elucidate its Description?
The base of the jar is emblazoned with the reign mark Da Ming Jiajing nianzhi, or "Made during the Jiajing reign of the great Ming dynasty," in two columns, but the distinctive style would have made the time period clear enough without that label. While underglaze blue designs and overglaze enamel paintings began to appear on Chinese porcelain in the fifteenth century, during the sixteenth they became markedly bolder and more exuberant in design and color. This was a complex process, requiring multiple firings. For the first firing, a clear glaze over a cobalt-based paint resulted in vivid blue designs on the white porcelain. Before the second firing, translucent enamels applied over the glaze resulted in a range of brilliant colors. The end result is this vivid design, the swimming carp depicted from an angle that makes it appear the jar is transparent.
carp underglaze enamel cobalt Ming dynasty Jiajing porcelain overglaze