Collection
/
Asian Art

Water Tray

1423–1435

1 of 2

Caption

Water Tray, 1423–1435. Porcelain with underglaze, 2 9/16 × 2 5/8 × 3 7/8 in. (6.5 × 6.7 × 9.8 cm) D at top: 3 1/16 in. (7.8 cm) D at base: 1 7/16 in. (3.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helen B. Waterman, 51.131.1. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

Asian Art

Title

Water Tray

Date

1423–1435

Dynasty

Ming Dynasty

Period

Xuande Period

Geography

Place made: Jiangxi, China

Medium

Porcelain with underglaze

Classification

Vessel

Dimensions

2 9/16 × 2 5/8 × 3 7/8 in. (6.5 × 6.7 × 9.8 cm) D at top: 3 1/16 in. (7.8 cm) D at base: 1 7/16 in. (3.6 cm)

Markings

Xuande reign mark near top rim: "Da Ming xuande nian zhi"

Credit Line

Gift of Helen B. Waterman

Accession Number

51.131.1

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • What does the writing on this piece say?

    The characters on the very top of this little water pot are reign marks and indicate the emperor under which this was made. This one says "Made during the Xuande reign of the Great Ming" (Da Ming Xuande nian zhi).

  • Tell me a little about this.

    This is a blue and white porcelain work from the Ming dynasty. By the end of the Ming dynasty, after these wares had become popular in China among the elite, they began to be exported for European buyers.

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