Jar, porcelain painted in underglaze blue with phoenix, crane and lotus design; China, Ming dynasty, Zhengde period (1506-1521) (with Xuande mark). Purchased with the assistance of The Art Fund, the Murray Bequest and the Horn Bequest. FE.39-1980. Victoria & Albert Museum © V&A Images

Height: 11.7 cm, Width: 10.5 cm. Jar of rectangular section with angled corners, the sides rising from the base, spreading gently and then curving in at the shoulder, with straight neck and reinforced lip of the same section. Painted in greyish blue with on three sides a design of cranes among lotus plants and on the fourth, two phoenixes among lotus, the angles with lotus plants; with louts panels round the foot, ruyi heads border on the shoulder and key-fret on the neck. Marks and inscriptions: 'Xuande nian zao' in a rectangular cartouche on the base

Previously in the Alfred Clark Collection