Slops jar (zhadou), 1506-1521, Ming dynasty, Zhengde reign. Porcelain with cobalt pigment under colorless glaze, H: 12.5 W: 15.4 cm, Jingdezhen, China. Purchase F1951.9. Freer/Sackler © 2014 Smithsonian Institution

Jars of this shape, known in Chinese as zhadou, are called "slops jars" and they were primarily used to hold table refuse--food scraps and dregs of tea and wine. Another name for the shape that was commonly used especially in early twentieth-century writings about Chinese porcelain is "leys jar"; sometimes the term "spitton" is also used.

This imperial slops jar has a four-character Zhengde (1506–21) mark written in cobalt on the bottom. The decoration of dragons cavorting among lotuses was used on a range of table wares made for the Zhengde court.