These days, young people enjoy collecting all kinds of cute objects such as mystery boxes, dolls, badges, stickers, and more. This trend is older than you might think! Adorable trinkets also captured the hearts and sparked the imagination of the ancients who lived thousands of years ago, and these small, cute items even traveled across the oceans to enthrall buyers around the globe. In this issue of “Rebirth of Relics”, we will discover the history behind a beguiling Ming Dynasty Tricolor Elephant Pot.

Ming Dynasty Tricolor Elephant Pot in the collection of the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea

Rebirth

Hello everyone, I’m a Ming Dynasty Tricolor Elephant Pot. Not only am I a cheerful, elegantly crafted little elephant, I’m also quite useful for pouring beverages such as tea or spirits. I spent over 500 years waiting patiently under the sea to be rediscovered, but now I’m back above water and ready to tell my story.

A Cleverly Made Elephant Pot

This tricolor pot in the collection of the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea is shaped like an elephant. The elephant’s trunk curls up to serve as the spout, while the tail forms a loop to serve as a handle. The elephant wears a saddle and carries an elegant vase on her back, which opens to allow liquid to be added to the pot.

Looking closer, elegant patterns emerge, such as the delicate grass pattern on the edges of the saddle pad, a pattern of circles on the neck of the bottle, a pattern of auspicious clouds on the elephant’s shoulders, and an upturned lotus pattern at the base of the pot. Although this elephant is small, she’s full of surprises!

This is not the only porcelain elephant pot that’s been discovered. China’s ancient cultural relics include many similar pots, each depicting a unique elephant with different colors and shapes. Some are as grey as the moon, some have twisting trunks, and each one looks ready to step off its pedestal and playfully ask for a peanut.

In the ‘Deep Blue Marvels - Special Exhibition of Archaeological Discoveries From the No. 1 and No. 2 Shipwrecks On The Northwest Continental Slope Of The South China Sea’, there are not only elephant shaped pots on display, but also heron shaped pots, snail shaped pots, and many more fascinating treasures of the sea. The ancients, it turns out, were highly skilled, imaginative artisans!

A tricolor pot on display in the Deep Blue Marvels exhibition at the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea

A tricolor pot on display in the Deep Blue Marvels exhibition at the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea

Tricolor Pots Actually Have More Than Three Colors!

This Ming Dynasty Tricolor Elephant Pot actually features four colors of glaze. The body of the elephant is covered in white glaze, the saddle pad, ears, feet, and interior with yellow, the saddle pad edges, reins, base, and underside with green, and the tip of the trunk, neck of the vase, and areas near the base with purple.

Traditionally in China, red is a very important color that represents joy as well as being the color of meat. Porcelain that features no or little red pigments are simply called ‘tricolor porcelain’, no matter how many colors are actually present. Thus, in this context, ’tricolor’ actually means ‘multicolor’.

Tricolor porcelains are often first decorated with conical arch patterns, fired at high temperatures, then coated with different low-temperature glazes, and sometimes must be fired multiple times.

The most well known Ming Dynasty tricolor porcelain is from the Zhengde period (1506 -1521), showing the development of low-temperature colored glazed porcelain techniques during that period. The artifacts in the exhibition that were recovered from the No. 1 shipwreck all date back to this time frame.

The ‘Deep Blue Marvels - Special Exhibition of Archaeological Discoveries From the No. 1 and No. 2 Shipwrecks On The Northwest Continental Slope Of The South China Sea’ exhibition is currently being held at the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea, with 408 cultural relics recovered from the ocean floor on public display for the first time. You’ll have to visit in person to see the rest!

Exhibition Tips

Location: Hall 6, Floor 3, South Area of the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea

Dates: Now on permanent display