Bluish white glaze Chinese zodiac bottle

Made in Yuan Dynasty, 48.8cm high, its abdominal diameter is 22.6cm, it is donated by minister of military department, and now it’s collected by China Ceramic Museum.

It is one of the articles to be for the dead, it’s also called “necromancy bottle” or “soul bottle”.

Features: Straight mouth, plump shoulder, the round foot turns outward, and the body is plump, the cover seems like a spire, the spire decorates with bird-pattern sculpture. Besides, the shoulder and the belly has two-layer sculpture, the upper are gods from four directions with the propitious clouds in the middle, the lower is Chinese Zodiac, that is, rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog, boar. They are placed against a clock, the figurines wearing wide sleeve and long gown are made as relief which appears upright. The two layers are separated by the sculpture line. The lower belly is decorated with lotus petal and the whole body enameled with bluish glaze that floats green. The porcelain reflects the social funerary culture at that time.