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About this work
Chinese porcelains were first imported into Europe during the fourteenth century and were considered items of great luxury and rarity. From the early sixteenth century onwards, following Portugal’s establishment of commercial sea trade routes to Asia, Chinese potters began producing porcelains specifically for the European market. Porcelain began to arrive in increasing quantity throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, together with cargoes of tea, silks, paintings, lacquerware, metalwork and ivory. The blue-and-white vessels that comprised a large part of exported porcelain became known as kraak wares, the term deriving from the Dutch word for caracca, a sixteenth-century Portuguese merchant ship.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, south-east China, China
Accession Number
4349-D3
Department
Asian Art
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Gordon Darling Foundation
Physical description
Ovoid with short neck; body with large panels of flowering trees, shoulder with small panels of bird in tree, both with 'good luck' rui symbols and flower motifs with bands on swastika grid, foot band of lotus panels, neck band of flowers and auspicious objects. Damage to glaze.