Covered jar with lotus, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Xuande mark and period (1426-1435), China, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with underglaze-blue decoration, qinghua ware. H. 10 5/8 in x Diam. 10 1/2 in, H. 27.1 cm x Diam. 26.7 cm. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P246. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture

The label reading "Xuande mark, but ceramic Interregnum" for this piece in the Asian Art Museum collection must be corrected. All of its features, from the shape, to the drawing, the motif, and the color of the cobalt, are unquestionably what one would expect a grandiose Xuande piece to have. It often happened that the surfaces of the jars, which were placed separately from other jars in the kiln during the firing, produced different color tones, as is the case here. Continually produced since the Yuan, such jars were decorated with a variety of motifs during the early Ming, but the basic themes remained. Lotus panels, banana leaves, and wavy or cloud patterns were used for borders, while dragons or flowers usually served as the main motif.