Bottle

Object Type
This Chinese bottle is made from porcelain, a substance much coveted for its hardness and translucency. When this piece was made around 1600, the techniques of porcelain manufacture were unknown in Europe. The method of decoration, too, was novel. The motifs were painted onto the bottle before the glaze was applied. The deep-blue cobalt colouring being a perennial favourite in both China and the West.

People
Most artefacts traded from China were made by anonymous craftsmen and women. There was, however, an interesting development in China around the time that this bottle was made, namely the appearance of signatures on a broad range of craft products. It has been suggested that the Chinese elite, who increasingly purchased such items, wanted some sort of fixed standard as a buying guide.

Design & Designing
This bottle was made at the huge manufacturing plant of Jingdezhen, the largest complex of its kind in the world at the time. Ceramics were produced there in a wide range of shapes informed both by practical needs and a delight in the fantastic. This bottle is in the form of a gourd, a large fleshy fruit which can itself be used as a container when the pulp is scooped out and the skin dried.