A blue and white globular jar with lid and a parrot bowl

Le dynasty, 15th/16th century

Le dynasty, 15th/16th century
The jar of compressed form, painted in cobalt with a band of leaf scrolls over a row of four-petaled flowers separating leafy tendrils above three narrow cloud scrolls, the glaze stopping short of the foot pad and shallow recessed base; the lid painted leafy tendrils surrounding a lotus bud finial, with glaze on the exterior and the recessed interior; the bowl formed as a compressed peach with a parrot on the right biting the leafy peach branch, the head and feathers of the parrot outlined in underglaze blue, the glaze layer showing and traces of yellow enamel on the peach leaf and spots of green enamel on the floor of the bowl, with portions of the underside left unglazed. [3]
4 1/4in (11cm) diameter of the jar
2 3/4in (7cm) diameter of the lid
4in (10cm) length across the parrot bowl

Published
James H. Brow and Anh Hoang Brow, 'Vietnamese Ceramics: A Ten Thousand Year Continuum,' Arts of Asia, March-April 2004, p. 92, no. 31 (jar and cover).

Compressed globular jars of similar form but smaller in height, ranging from 1 7/8 to 2 5/8in (4.7 to 6.6cm) were offered in Butterfields Treasures from the Hoi An Hoard, 11-13 October, 2000, lots 435-442. Chich choe and water grasses predominated in the decoration of the Hoi An jars; but the four-petal flower head and leaf scroll pattern on the central band of this lot recurs on a number of dishes offered in lots 1112 -1163. For similar parrot bowls from the Hoi An Hoard, showing traces of colored enamel and the parrot's tail tapering inward along right side of the peach, see also lots 1738 and 1739.