Pair of covered jars

This pair of covered jars are painted over the glaze in enamels with flowering shrubs within arched panels on each of their eight sides. These Persian-inspired motifs are unusual for this type of Chinese export ware made for the Thai market, known as Bencharong. The Persianate connection with Siam reaches a high point in the beginning of the 17th century, when a large community of Persians was established in Ayutthaya. It is possible that this pair of jars was commissioned by one of these Persian émigrés, or even Thai nobles enamoured with Persian culture, before the sacking of the city by the Burmese in 1767.

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Covered jar

Pair of jars

Covered jar

Covered jar