Lidded Jar with Blue-and-White and Under- Glazed Red Decorations

Lidded Jar with Blue-and-White and Under- Glazed Red Decorations

The Lidded Jar with Blue-and-White and Under-glazed Red Decorations was unearthed in 1965 from a Yuan-dynasty kiln site in Baoding City, north China's Hebei Province. Coated with blue-and-white glaze, the jar has a cute little lion on the lid. The belly is engraved with grotesque rocks, peony, chrysanthemum, and other decorations.

The body features blue and red colors under the glaze, which contrast sharply with each other. It isn't easy to generate both blue and red colors through a single firing process, and this technique didn't emerge until the Yuan Dynasty. The blue color is attributed to pigment made of cobalt, which is stable in nature and easy to achieve. However, the red color under the glaze, which uses pigment made of copper, is difficult to achieve due to extremely high requirements for the temperature and oxygen content of the kiln. Therefore, perfectly colored blue-and-white porcelain objects with under-glazed red decorations are very rare.

This artifact not only has an elegant shape and bright colors but also features a variety of decorative techniques such as painting, hollowed-out carving, and molding, reflecting the superb firing technology for blue-and-white porcelain with under-glazed red decorations in the Yuan Dynasty.

青花釉里红盖罐

青花釉里红镂雕盖罐于1965年出土于河北省保定市元代窖藏，器物造型饱满，通体施青白釉，盖子上的小狮子憨态可掬。罐腹局部镂空，雕饰怪石、牡丹、菊花等。器身蓝、红两种颜色对比强烈，为施在胎体之上、釉面之下的青花和釉里红。二者经一次烧制显出蓝、红色，并不容易实现，这种技艺出现在元代。青花采用钴料呈色，性质稳定，呈色不难。釉里红则采用铜料，呈现红色难度较大，对瓷窑温度和氧气含量等要求极高。因此颜色完美的青花釉里红成器非常难得。

这件器物不仅造型优美、颜色艳丽，还使用了绘画、浮雕、贴塑等多种装饰技法，体现出元代高超的青花釉里红烧造技术。