Description:
This round pear-shaped vase with a turquoise glaze on a beige clay is decorated by two five-clawed dragons, each chasing a pearl among clouds incised into the pot under the glaze. There is a ruyi pattern around the flared lip and a wave pattern around the base under the glaze. The base is sunken, glazed and unmarked. While copper in a lead-fluxed glaze will usually produce a green glaze, in an alkali-fluxed glaze a brilliant turquoise such as on this vase can be achieved. The clear brilliance of this glaze appealed to the Emperor Qianlong, who appointed the Superintendant Tang Ying at Jingdezhen to produce such perfect monochromes.