Cleveland Museum of Art

Wine Cup with Children at Play

Date

1465–87

Medium

porcelain with underglaze blue and overglaze enamel decoration, docai ("joined colors") ware

Culture

China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Chenghua mark and period (1465-1487)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This delicate wine cup, only two inches high, exhibits free, spontaneous drawing as well as perfect compositional balance over its small surface area. The motifs were outlined with cobalt blue; the piece was then glazed and fired in the normal way for making the blue-and-white ware. After firing, the outline painting was completed with colored enamels over the glaze. The piece was fired the second time. The pictorial decoration is refined and complicated; the porcelain body is of exceptionally high quality and is thin, translucent, and light in weight. Chenghua ware demonstrates one of the high points of technological accomplishment in Chinese porcelain production.

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