Jue Wine Cup with Mohammedan-blue Glaze

The cup is a fine porcelain ware imitating the ancient bronze prototype jue cup. It has an oval-shaped mouth and is covered by an openwork copper lid with a coral knob. The stomach is decorated with rings of rectangular spiral pattern, animal masks, and drum-nails. The Mohammedan-blue glaze shows purplish-blue color. The color of the biscuit is exposed where the glaze layer is relatively thin. The base is left unglazed and inscribed with a six-character Jiajing reign mark. With the pigment imported from West Asia and fired at high temperatures, the Mohammedan-blue glazed porcelain ware is unique to the Jiajing reign. It was a new blue glaze type developed from the pre-existing cobalt-blue glazing techniques of the Yuan dynasty at Jingdezhen. Mohammedan blue is slightly lighter than the sky-clearing-blue.