Porcelain water sprinkler with underglaze blue decoration, Ming dynasty, Zhentong-Jingtai period (1436-1457). Height: 17.5 cm. Bequeathed by Henry J Oppenheim (1947,0712.165). © Trustees of the British Museum.
This water sprinkler has a long narrow tapering neck, a squat eight-lobed body and a straight foot. It is painted in bright blue tones beneath a yellowish glaze. Painted around the body are three lotus flowers on a continuous scroll, with three inverted plantain leaves around the neck and a scrolling band around the mouth. The base is unglazed.
In contrast to the pure-white-bodied porcelains with fine underglaze blue decoration fired for the court during the preceding Xuande era, this coarser water sprinkler was made at a 'min yao' [commercial kiln] in the Jingdezhen area for a less exalted clientele. Iron impurities in the glaze, dark cobalt blue and less refined clay are characteristic of private-kiln-fired porcelains.
Initially derived from an Indian metal-work shape, this water sprinkler would have contained pure scented water which was used by a Buddhist priest to libate on to the ground, creating a sacred space for the Buddha. Rituals still exist today in which a priest sprinkles water in a circle and the inside space is believed to be the heavenly realm of Mount Meru where a Buddha exists.