This lidded blue and white jar has a square body with a bulbous middle. The four sides of this jar each depict a scholar engaged in the Four Scholarly Arts, namely music, Chinese chess, calligraphy and painting. The base and the shoulder of the jar are decorated with lotus petal panels and lotus scrolls respectively. On the lid are the Eight Trigrams (Daoist symbols), which are commonly found on the porcelain pieces from the early 16th to early 17th century. This reflects the strong interest in Taoism at court during that time. On the base of this jar are four underglaze blue characters – ‘fugui jiaqi’ (literally, fine vessel for the rich and honourable).It is uncertain if this jar was made for the imperial court or for the domestic or overseas market, as private kilns were also engaged to help official kilns meet imperial porcelain orders.
