Milk jug

The milk jug is complete. It is oval in shape. It has a slightly bulging wall, a rounded shoulder and a slightly flared neck, topped by a rim that is lower at the back than at the front, with a straight top. The rim has an oval-shaped spout at the front, in line with the rim. The wall is narrowed at the base, and the pot rests on a swollen pedestal with a wide, flat fulcrum. The base is free of glaze. The base is recessed and flat. The pot is fitted with a vertical handle, oval in shape, with a horizontal top and a rectangular protrusion at the apex. Its upper end is bent downwards, joining the top of the rim, while its elongated lower end rests on the wall and ends in an oval. The cross-section is oval. A mold line runs lengthwise through the middle of the pot’s outer surface. Three numbers are painted in red under the base: 241; the decoration is painted on the glaze in polychrome blue, red, green, pink, black and peach. It is a Chinese figurative scene (Boy and the butterfly or Boy and the bug). It is visible under the inner rim, under the outer rim, on the outer wall and on the handle. The decoration under the inner rim is a wide, red-painted fillet. The decoration under the outer rim is a horizontal double fillet painted red and adorned with four lobed tongues with pearl. The decoration extends across the entire outer wall: it consists of nine small terraces, divided into two registers, and all made of superimposed triangular lines pointing downwards and painted red; two support figures, five others, a tree, stylized rocks and shrubs, one with spikes and the others in black balls, and two support a red-painted fence. The central figure is a man standing three-quarters to the left, wearing a blue tunic, black shoes and a headdress painted black and red. In front of him are two terraces of rocks and brush, one of which features branches adorned with red berries. In front of the man stands a child, seen in profile to the right, dressed in a pink jacket and green pants; he is wearing black shoes and stretching his arms upwards towards a butterfly in flight, with blue wings. The child is standing in front of a leaning tree decorated with red fruit. In the background are two scrub-covered rocks, from one of which emerge branches adorned with red berries. On the opposite wall stands a woman, also seen from three-quarters to the left, dressed in a red and pink tunic and partly hidden by a long green sleeveless blouse; the woman holds a long leafy stem painted black. The terrace behind the woman supports a fence made of two angled sections with a central post; it is flanked by ball-shaped stylized shrubs. The handle is adorned with red-painted decoration: the center of the vertical part of the handle is adorned with a fillet, and the ends are adorned with a fillet, while the top of the handle is adorned with a plant motif followed by a row of aligned dashes and dots.