Blue-and-white Plate with Designs of Qilin Unicorn and Flying Phoenix

The design of a Qilin (or kyrin) and a flying phoenix painted in the center of the plate symbolizes auspiciousness and harmony.   In the Yuan dynasty, there were two ways to make blue-and-white porcelain wares: one was to paint the design with cobalt blue pigment on the white clay body; the other was to leave the design intact but instead paint the rest part of the white clay body with cobalt blue pigment, so that the result porcelain ware showed white design on a blue ground, such as the plate displayed here.