Beaker Vase with Sky-blue Glaze

The vase has a drum-shaped stomach. Both its mouth and foot are flared. Covered with sky-blue glaze, it has very subtle decoration: small nail heads line the top and bottom of the stomach above and below which are bowstrings. In the shallow white-glazed foot ring the reign mark of the Kangxi Emperor is written in blue. The production of porcelain beakers (gu) started in the Yuan dynasty (1272-1368). In addition to the Jingdezhen kilns in southeastern China’s Jiangxi province, Dehua kilns in southern China’s Fujian province and Longquan kilns in southeastern China’s Zhejiang province also made similar products with a wide variety of glazes. In ancient times, beakers served as wine containers. The first beakers were made of pottery and dated to the Neolithic era (ca. 8000-2000 BCE). In the Shang dynasty (ca. 16 century-11 century BCE) beakers were popularly cast in bronze. After the Western Zhou (ca. eleventh century -771 BCE) production declined. The more recent Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties (thirteenth to twentieth century) saw a revival of beaker production, but they were primarily used as vases for home furnishings.