Ref: L580
£ 120
Price is subject to availability and market conditions.
Anamese Oil Jar, 15th century, of ovoid form with short, narrow neck, the stoneware body covered in a translucent glaze with a design of fruiting boughs issuing from the neck in underglaze cobalt blue, concentric circles to the neck and tapering foot, the base left unglazed revealing the stoneware body.
Notes:
The 15th century was a high point in Vietnamese blue and white ceramic production, due in part to Ming restrictions on Chinese private trade. Contemporary maritime routes benefited Vietnamese trade, and Anamese wares have been excavated in sites across Asia. Although as with Chinese wares cobalt was used as the underglaze blue pigment, a characteristic haziness is caused by the decoration being quickly absorbed by the clay of the body. This was a question of available raw materials: the clay in Vietnam produced a white stoneware compositionally different to the porcelain stone used in China, where generally high levels of silica resulted in vitrification during firing and a hard, glassy body.
