Blue dragon vase with dragon pattern

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As mentioned in the previous section, our awareness of Yuan dynasty blue-and-white ware owed to the effort made by the American scholar Pope. It was a pair of large and exquisite vases that Pope had encountered and made study on, which ushered us into the world of Yuan dynasty blue-and-white ware. The two vases are 63.6 centimeters in height, with elephant-head shaped handle on each side, and eight layers of refined decorations from top to bottom, namely interlocking chrysanthemum, plantain leaves,a phoenix flying among clouds, interlocking lotus, dragon ascending from the sea with clouds, sea waves, interlocking peony and panels containing auspicious symbols and lotus petals. Although covering the whole body of the vases, these decorations are arranged in a harmonious order.

Among the patterns on the middle of their necks, an inscription has been set, which can be roughly translated as follows: In the year of 1351,a man named Zhang Wenjin presented this pair of vases to the deity as a prayer for the peace and happiness of the whole family. According to thissignificant information left on the vases, Pope solved the dating problem of many blue-and-white wares.

Nonetheless, this invaluable pair of treasures were once considered as fake, and almost unable to be displayed again in public. The story started in 1920s. This pair of imposing vases were originally the oblation presented in the Zhihua Monastery of Beijing, but they somehow fell into the hands of an oversea Chinese businessman.

However, when he showed the invaluable vases to other people, they were unanimously believed to be fake, as according to the perception then, there were no blue-and-white wares in the Yuan dynasty at all. After passing through many different hands, the two vases finally settled in the showcase of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art in London, before they were observed by the insightful and erudite scholar Robert Lockhart Hobson(1872-1941). He was very curious about the seal mark of the reigning years on the vases, and carried out elaboratestudies through this clue. Unfortunately, his effort didn’t gain much attention. It was not until more than two decadeslater when the two vases were luckily noticed by Pope that they were eventually cherished as they deserve. Yuan blue-and-white wares also drew people’s attention, and have attained more attention from then on.

Although having undergone some twists and turns, Yuan blue-and-white wares are finally appreciated. And it’s gratified to learn that this pair of vases collected abroad have become by mere accident the most typical blue-and-white ware during Zhizheng period of the Yuan dynasty.