Visited the exhibition “Unity of All Dharma: Sakya Monastery Treasures” in Beijing’s Palace Museum today, this Ming Xuande wucai high-stem bowl with lotus pond and mandarin ducks明宣德青花五彩莲池鸳鸯纹高足碗, on loan from Tibet’s ancient Sakya Monastery, is one of only two intact examples known worldwide, it finally proves the long-lost “Xuande five-color” 宣德五彩 porcelain described in Ming texts.

Underglaze blue outlines pair with vivid overglaze reds, greens, and yellows in a “full pond joy” scene of playful mandarin ducks amid blooming lotuses; the inner rim bears a blue Tibetan Six-Times Auspicious Mantra, and the base carries the “Da Ming Xuande Nian Zhi”大明宣德年制 mark.

Fired at the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen 景德镇using the complex wucai technique (underglaze blue first, then overglaze enamels in a second firing), it was specially commissioned by the Ming court and gifted to Sakya Monastery.

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