Vase with design of the “three abundances”

Underglaze Red and Underglaze Blue, with Overglaze Multicolor Decoration

Just as cobalt was used to achieve underglaze blue decorations, copper was fired to achieve a red color. In the 1700s, ceramics decorated with what was considered to be the best red—a clear, bright shade of the color— were made at the imperially supervised kilns.

This case displays the combination of underglaze and overglaze decoration used in the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties known as the doucai (“competing colors”) technique, in which blue underglaze outlines are filled in with overglaze multicolor enamels.