Yongle Sweet-white-glazed Pear-shaped Pot with Barely-visible Patterns

Passed down from earlier generations, this pot in an elegant pear-shape, with its fine, spotlessly white porcelain body covered with mirror-like lustrous sweet-white glaze, is one of the best porcelains made during the Yongle years (1403-1424 AD). It has a slightly curvy spout, a lid with a pearl-shape knob, a high base with an enlarged rim. There are two smaller ring-shaped knobs on the lib rim and the top of the handle. Barely-seen patterns consisting of fine, free-flowing lines cover all over this piece, blossoming lotus flowers on the lid, four floating clouds on the shoulders, a pair of flying phoenixes looking back at each other on the belly, whose tails are surrounded with ruyi-shaped clouds that serve as a foil to the elegance and agility of the flying birds. There is also a line of cloud and thunder patterns circling the exterior side of the base.