Stem cup, 1465-1487, Ming dynasty, Chenghua reign. Porcelain with cobalt under the glaze and enamels over the glaze. H: 8.0 W: 6.3 cm, Jingdezhen, China. Purchase F1951.16a-b. Freer/Sackler© 2014 Smithsonian Institution
This delicate, jewellike cup was decorated in the doucai technique, which literally means "joined, or interlocking, colors." In this method, a design is outlined in cobalt, after which the vessel is glazed and fired. Once it has cooled, bright enamel colors are added inside the boundary lines and the porcelain is refired at a lower temperature to fuse the enamels into glasslike colors.
Doucai was once thought to have originated in the Chenghua period (1465-87), but excavations at the site of the Ming imperial kilns reveal that it was pioneered in the Xuande period (1426-35) and greatly refined in the Chenghua.
A few similar cups are known worldwide, and based on excavated evidence, they date to the end of the Chenghua reign. These cups are painted either with lotus flowers or, as seen here, with a Chinese rose. Small stem cups were probably altar vessels that held water and were placed around the throne of a Buddha image.