A large-lid jug with a design of fish and weeds, a representative work in the wucai (five-color) porcelain style of the reign of Jiajing (1522-66) in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), is considered the best of its kind, with a solid body, gorgeous colors, and unsophisticated patterns.

After more than 400 years of dynastic change, less than 10 such jugs remain, two of them in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing.

With a height of about 40 centimeters, a mouth diameter of about 22 centimeters, and a similar base diameter, such jugs have a rounded shoulder, a thick wall, and a circular base.

On the bottom of all of them written in kaishu, or regular script, are the words: made in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty.

Each of the bodies is vibrantly decorated with eight fish diving and leaping in a lotus pond. They are vividly depicted with their tail fins, gills, and barbels outlined in iron oxide red, and the bodies in gold.

In addition to lotus, there are other aquatic plants, like algae and arrowhead.

The slightly domed covers catch viewers' eyes with their bud-shaped finials richly painted in swirling bands of yellow, green, and blue emerging from a row of petals.

Both the outside and inside of the jugs are glazed with white enamel, but the outer surface of their bodies is further glazed in bright yellow, deep green, and crimson, all wucai colors.

Wucai, a kind of overglaze, originated in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). The technique reached maturity in the Xuande reign (1426-35) of the Ming Dynasty, and reached its peak in the Jiajing and Wanli (1573-1620) reigns of the late Ming dynasty.

Some archaeologists say the jugs were commonly used in the royal palace of the Ming Dynasty for storing cooking oil or sugar.

The flourishing economy in the late 15th century had given impetus to the development of oil extraction and sugar refining.

Long before the advent of plastic and stainless steel, damp resistant and clean porcelain with its relatively low price compared to gold and silver, became the preferred choice for storage containers for oil and sugar.

Used in the imperial kitchens hundreds of years ago, the jugs are now regarded as priceless artistic works.

In 1992, one of them sold for more than 20 million Hong Kong dollars (US$2.56 million) at Sotheby's in New York. Eight years later, the price for the same jug doubled in the auction house's Hong Kong branch, setting a new price record for ancient Chinese porcelains at that time.

Archaeologists and collectors believe that the price represents the true value of the jug. It surpasses other guanyao (royal kiln) products firstly because of who it was used by.

Many royal kilns were built in the Ming Dynasty, but not all their products were used by the emperors or their families.

Porcelain, unlike other collectibles like paintings, calligraphy, or jade, is easily broken.

Any flaw, occurring in either the firing or in later use, decreases the commercial value drastically.

(China Daily July 27, 2004)