A large blue and white porcelain jar with a dragon design, Ming dynasty, Xuande reign (1426-1435). Palace Museum, Beijing.

Maximum diameter 49.5cm, height 48.4cm, excavated from the site of the imperial kiln factory at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. The style is unusual, perhaps inspired by the paintings of the Southern Song dynasty, and resembles Chen Rong's dragons. Chen Rong's breakthrough in tradition changed the image of the old Chinese dragon with a raised mouth, and pioneered the ink painting of dragons, which became the mainstream stereotype of dragon images for later generations and even today.