On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Vase with archaistic design
Thanks to its dated inscription, we know that this vase was used as a benchmark to inform the development of archaistic patterns from the twelfth century onward. Its decoration features a mixture of ancient and contemporary motifs. Some of the ornamented bands can be traced back to woodblock illustrations from antiquarian catalogues, such as the mountain-dragon bottle from Xuanhe bogutu. In a central band, the scene of dragons and phoenixes rising from tumultuous waves is an innovation of the twelfth century.
Inscription
早念字號，乾道玖年弍月初十日鎮江府都稅務注籍訖官 (花押)
Number twenty. On the tenth day of the second month of the ninth year of the Qiandao reign [1173], the official in charge of tax affairs of Zhenjiang prefecture completed the registration of this piece [sign].
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