Jar with Dragons and Floral Designs

China

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 964

Men were traded for vases in a Europe obsessed with porcelain and power. Vessels this large were rarely made for the domestic market during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), but they appeared in the collection of the ruler Augustus II the Strong. In 1717 he exchanged a regiment of elite soldiers (dragoons) with the Prussian king for 151 pieces of porcelain. The sixteen monumental vessels Augustus acquired, much like this one, are now known as “dragoon vases.”

Jar with Dragons and Floral Designs, Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), China

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Jar with Dragons and Floral Designs, Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), China
Jar with Dragons and Floral Designs, Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), China
Jar with Dragons and Floral Designs, Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), China
Jar with Dragons and Floral Designs, Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), China

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