Chinese Porcelain Fish Jars

[Al Kowsky]

Last week the art world was abuzz after Sotheby's auctioned a pair of covered porcelain fish jars from the Ming dynasty for $12.5 million 😮! The pair of jars were made at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen for the Jiajing Emperor, who reigned from 1521-1567. The jars were decorated in the Wucai technique, meaning five colors, although the number of colors may vary. The color blue was painted under the glaze & fired at 1,100 deg. C, & the other colors were painted over the glaze & fired 200 deg. lower. It wasn't until the early 18th century that European potters were able to copy this technique on true high-fired porcelain.

Photos courtesy of Sotheby's

Six years ago a much smaller fish jar, 10 cm tall with no cover, also made in the same period was auctioned by Invaluable Auctions, with a grossly low estimate of $1,500-2,500, it sold for $42,500.

Photos courtesy of Invaluable Auctions.

Pictured below are photos of a wucai porcelain made in the Qing dynasty, late 18th century, 5 in diameter, in my collection.

Website members are welcome to post any oriental porcelain objects in their collection 😊.

 

 

 

[CPK]

Beautiful!

I'd be too nervous to go near them, let alone touch them like the folks in the photo. 😬

[Hesiod]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! I like the scene on your example!

Minor correction: invaluable is the auction house provider (like biddr is for coins), looks like the firm was Eden Fine Antiques Galleries based out of Georgia, USA

[Al Kowsky]

3 hours ago, CPK said:

Beautiful!

I'd be too nervous to go near them, let alone touch them like the folks in the photo. 😬

I know what you mean 🤣. I'd feel more comfortable handling them with my bare hands instead of wearing cloth gloves like the Sotheby attendants did 🙄.

[Al Kowsky]

2 hours ago, Hesiod said:

Very cool, thanks for sharing! I like the scene on your example!

Minor correction: invaluable is the auction house provider (like biddr is for coins), looks like the firm was Eden Fine Antiques Galleries based out of Georgia, USA

Hesiod, thanks for the correction, I should have been more clear on that 😉. I regards to the scene on my porcelain bowl, two women are handing out goodies to young children celebrating the lunar new year. Pictured below is another view of he bowl, notice the kid on the right is blowing a horn & holding a stick of exploding fire crackers 😂.

 

[DonnaML]

And we worry about dropping ancient coins on the floor, or not being able to find them in the carpet!