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Doucai means contending colours, and the technique is worth understanding because it is the reason these look the way they do. The outline of every motif is painted in cobalt under the glaze and fired once. Then the enamels, green, yellow, iron red, are filled inside those outlines and fired again at a lower temperature. Two firings, and the cobalt line has to survive the first one accurately enough for the colour to land inside it.
Look at the dragons. The blue outline is visible around the green body wherever the enamel pulled back slightly, which is the signature of real doucai. A single fire polychrome has no line underneath.
The base carries the six character Chenghua mark, Da Ming Chenghua Nian Zhi, made in the Chenghua reign of the Great Ming. Chenghua doucai is the most copied thing in Chinese ceramics, and marks like this were applied respectfully for four centuries afterwards without any intent to deceive. Take it as the tribute it is and buy the pot.
The form is an ovoid guan jar with a short straight neck, dragons chasing flaming pearls through lotus scroll, and a formal lappet band around the foot. Eight inches. It reads correctly from across a room, which is the whole reason the shape has survived six hundred years.
Condition: Used. No chips, no cracks and no restoration found. Enamels bright with the cobalt outline visible throughout. Six character mark clear on the base. Foot rim unglazed. Interior clean.
Ships from Baltimore via FedEx within the stated handling time. Flat rate shipping by size. Combined shipping on multiple items. Returns accepted for 30 days.
Ten percent of every sale goes to a nonprofit providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
Packaging is reused. Boxes and padding come from what already passed through here, so the parcel will not look new but it will arrive intact. Nothing extra is included: no cards, no plastic sleeves, no filler.
Researching and cataloguing these pieces is the work. Questions welcome before you buy.
