Page 488 - The art of the Chinese potter By Hobson

PLATE CIX

Pipe-shaped bottle with globular body, slender neck with

flange below the mouth, and mammiform spout. Fine-

grained porcelain with solid glaze, painted with designs in
red outline, filled in with brilliant turquoise -blue enamel, over

which there is gilt ornamentation now much worn. The

designs consist of mirror-shaped medallions, large and small,
and borders of ju-i pattern.

The paste where it appears in patches under the base is
burnt reddish, and the Hsiian Te mark in six characters is

written in under-glaze blue within a ring, as seen in the upper

illustration.

Bottles of this form were adapted as narghili bowls in
Persia and India after the introduction of tobacco smoking
an event which took place in China in 1530 ; but several of

these bottles are of a date antecedent to the use of tobacco,

and their form suggests that they were originally feeding

bottles.

15th century. H. 75".
In the possession of Mr. T. H. Green.