Jar decorated with Fish among Aquatic Weeds in Wu-ts'ai Style. Jing-de-zhen Ware

This jar, which bears the inscription, "Made in the Jiajing era of the Great Ming," has a design of aquatic plants and lotus depicted in cobalt blue, with flowers and fish in enamels of red, yellow, green and black. An orange color was also achieved by applying red enamel over a base of yellow. The cobalt used on this piece was imported from western Asia, resulting in a blue that is bright with a somewhat violet tinge. The combination of design and color on this jar make it an excellent work of Jiajing era five-color (wucai) porcelain.