Jar with lotus scrolls

The lotus scrolls were fringed by a floral-spray band below and the classical cloud-heads above that first appeared on ceramics in the Tang dynasty and flourished in the Yuan. The representation of the main motif on such jars was either alternated floral scrolls or dragons flying in clouds, or had individual floral or fruit branches (Shanghai Mus. 1987: pl. 43). How to accurately date this type of short-bodied jar with underglaze-blue decoration that persisted from the Yuan through the Ming is a critical and difficult matter. After the Yongle-Xuande period, jars began to be decorated with a variety of motifs ranging from plants, to landscapes, to human figures and historical stories.