Underglaze-red Bowl with White Interlocking Floral Designs

Floral pattern is seen both inside and outside this stout, large bowl. To make an underglaze-red ware, the craftsman first painted the biscuit with pigment rich in copper oxides and then applied with a layer of transparent glaze before firing at high temperatures. The beauty of this bowl lies in that the floral patterns are presented by the white part where no color pigment was applied. The chemical pigment was painted only to serve as a red background. Such technique was still rare in the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty.