Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Jiajing mark and period (1522–66) Date:mid-16th century Culture:China Medium:Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under and colored enamels over transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware) Dimensions:H. 6 in. (15.2 cm); Diam. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm); Diam. of base 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm) Classification:Ceramics Credit Line:Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891 Accession Number:91.1.379 Based on the shape of a calabash gourd, this type of bottle first appears in Chinese ceramics in the fourteenth century and becomes popular again in the sixteenth. Thought to hold the liquor of immortality, and carried by Daoist immortals, such gourds and the bottles in their shape are often associated with that religious tradition.
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Jiajing mark and period (1522–66) Date:mid-16th century Culture:China Medium:Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under and colored enamels over transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware) Dimensions:H. 6 in. (15.2 cm); Diam. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm); Diam. of base 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm) Classification:Ceramics Credit Line:Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891 Accession Number:91.1.379 Based on the shape of a calabash gourd, this type of bottle first appears in Chinese ceramics in the fourteenth century and becomes popular again in the sixteenth. Thought to hold the liquor of immortality, and carried by Daoist immortals, such gourds and the bottles in their shape are often associated with that religious tradition.