China (for the export market)
Porcelain, ‘landscape pattern’
Ginger jars are steeped in centuries of Chinese culture and history. Shaped with a wide mouth, a domed lid and a bulging, bulbous spherical hand painted body, they come in various styles and sizes and many different colours. Porcelain Chinese ginger jars were originally used to store food supplies like salt, herbs, oil and ginger (rare spices at that time), other ginger jars were allocated to be used as gifts. The jars acquired the name “ginger jars” because they often contained ginger when they were exported to the West. Some of the decorative treatments on ginger jars have included dragons, carp, landscapes, and florals, either glazed in a rainbow of colours or limited to the blues and whites of flow blue. Because of their wide shape, ginger jars lent themselves to a “rose medallion” treatment, in which florid designs around the jar framed smaller scenes, almost like a graphic novel in porcelain.
Size (cms): 17(H) x 18(Diam)
Size (inches): 6.5(H) x 7(Diam)
