Ming Dynasty Green Glazed Pottery Offering Chest fragment freely painted phoenix birds and

freely painted phoenix birds and floral sprays

believed to endow the wearer with wisdom

and delicate forehead lines

Their ritual specialists create and employ powerful magical figures closely related to those used by neighboring Songye communities

such as this bird

Ming Dynasty Green Glazed Pottery Offering Chest fragment freely painted phoenix birds andMing Dynasty, c. 15501644, China A rare and evocative pottery model of a storage chest, originally made as part of a Ming Dynasty tomb group. The piece is almost entirely covered in a brilliant green glaze, its edges neatly outlined in black. The base remain unglazed. The miniature chest is finely detailed, complete with hinges, and a claspclosely imitating the functional storage chests used in life. Such chests were essential household furnishings,