This rare vase is an exceptional example of the white and blue ceramics from the Yuan Dynasty.

Characterised by a bright blue colour and by the clearly outlined decorative patterns and distinctive profile, this type of ceramic was crafted no later than 1330, for private use in courts and common households alike, as well as for export.

This jar bears witness to the transmission and the mutual exchange of ideas, materials and artistic techniques between China and the rest of the Mongolian empire, following their commercial contact: the cobalt that was used for the underglaze blue decor was imported from Iran, and the decorative patterns arranged in bands with clouds and phoenixes on a floral backdrop are recurring elements in the Iranian decorative arts of the Ilkhanide period (1256-1353).

A very similar model in typology and decoration is currently kept at the Cleveland Museum of Art while two others are published in the volume dedicated to the collection of Chinese porcelain of the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul edited by Regina Krahl (Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum - Istanbul , published by John Ayers, Sotheby's Publications (1986), vol. II, pp. 407-408).Provenance: Private Collection, Turin