Round Oxblood Ginger Jar

This round porcelain ginger jar dates to the late Qing dynasty and is finished with a rich red glaze often called "sang-de-boeuf" or "oxblood" in the West. The art of creating this particular glaze, which was notoriously difficult to achieve, was lost for centuries but revived in the 18th century, when the imperial court commissioned potters to recover the technique. The wine-red glaze has a beautiful mottled appearance, speckled with flecks of dark red and contrasted by lilac undertones at the lip. The jar's original lid has been lost, and is replaced by a carved wooden lid stained to a deep burgundy.