Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup
Chicken cups are the most famous representatives of doucai porcelain wares made during Emperor Chenghua's reign (1465- 1487) of the Ming Dynasty.
This exquisite chicken cup features a thin wall and refreshing decorations. It lacks any motifs inside. On the outer surface of the cup, amidst plants and rocks, a rooster crows while lifting his neck high, a hen bows her head to forage, and several chicks spread their wings happily and chase each other, giving the entire image an air of vigor and movement.
The doucai porcelain is a new variety created during the Ming Dynasty. Craftsmen first drew outlines with cobalt blue and applied the glaze before burning the objects at high temperature to form the underglaze blue and white outlines. Then, they applied colors above the glaze according to the outlines and fixed the colors at low temperature. The underglaze and overglaze colors compete with each other, hence the name doucai (literally, "contending colors").
This chicken cup combines colors like blue, green, yellow, red, and black, and involves techniques such as painting, outlining, and dyeing, integrating elegance with brilliance.
The cup was from the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln, which was committed to producing porcelain utensils for royal use. Historical records show that Emperor Wanli owned a pair of valuable Chenghua doucai chicken cups. The Ming and Qing dynasties saw many imitations of famous Chenghua doucai chicken cups.
成化斗彩雞缸杯
明代成化斗彩以雞缸杯最為著名。雞缸杯造型小巧，胎薄體輕，裝飾清新。杯內光素，杯外花葉山石間，雄雞昂首啼鳴，雌雞低頭覓食，小雞歡快展翅，相互追逐，整體畫面雖靜猶動。
斗彩，是明代成化年間創燒的新品種。制法上，先用青料勾畫輪廓，上釉高溫燒成，形成釉下青花輪廓，再按輪廓線于釉上施彩料，低溫固色，使釉下彩與釉上彩爭奇斗艷。這件雞缸杯，畫面上藍、綠、黃、紅、黑等相映成輝，平涂、勾線、染彩等技法相得益彰。濃淡之間，素雅、鮮麗兼而有之。
此杯為景德鎮御窯廠燒制，專供御用。文獻記載，萬歷皇帝御前曾有成化斗彩雞缸杯一對，價值頗高。明清以來，雞缸杯仿燒不斷，是當之無愧的一代名瓷。
