Blue-and-white bowl with flowers and fruits, Ming dynasty, Xuande mark and period, AD1426–35. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Height: 80 millimetres, Diameter: 228 millimetres. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF,B.682 © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum

Although in the previous Yongle period (AD 1403–24) a four-character reign mark was sometimes used, the development of what became the standardised six-character reign mark began in the Xuande era as the result of direct official supervision and control of the imperial kilns by the court. Horizontal marks are read from right to left with the name of the dynasty, emperor’s reign name and the characters for ‘made in the years of’. Vertical marks are generally read from top to bottom and right to left. This bowl painted with fruits and flowers has a six-character Xuande reign mark on the base in a double ring.