Chinese Ming Dynasty Period, Wanli blue and white magpie & prunus motif porcelain jar. The porcelain potted in jar shape, having large and thick potted body, sturdily potted in a bulbous body, ovoid belly on middle, gently tapered on shoulder toward prominent, with short neck straight opening lip, and raised on small round foot base. All reserved in hand painting ornamentations, rendered in clean white under glazed ground color which contrast against the cobalt blue fine color. The main belly adorned with some magpie bird relax hanging on the branch among abundant prunus flowers blooms called Mei Hua. The upper mouth rim decorated with scrolling interlocking key fret, banded with double fine rings. The botanically correct name is Prunus Mume. If we want to be be more precise I think a better name is plum blossom or meihua in Chinese. Because the flowers emerge before the leaves and it takes a long time to come into flower it is associated with longevity. It is often shown with a crane, another symbol of longevity; with a ruyi is is a wish for a peaceful, long life. A popular pattern has plum blossom over cracked ice symbolizing Spring. A plum tree at Huangmei, Hebei is believed to be 1,600 years old. The Daoist philosopher Laozi is said to have been born beneath a plum tree. The five petals of the flower represent one of the many fives in Chinese symbolism including the five gods of prosperity, five good fortunes, five good luck gods. A characteristic heaped and piled effect, the under glaze grayish-blue concentrates in certain areas, bubbling through the surface of the glaze and turning a deep blue-black. The underside unglazed, revealed the pale-creme groundand dark grayish brown spotted firing marks and edge-cut foot rim. The clay is very fine, with a brilliant glaze finish that was applied by a meticulous, the shape is uniformly proportioned. Mark on neck, a horizontal six under glazed blue script characters reign mark, WanLi Reign Period of Great Ming Dynasty. Dimensions: 12.875"L x 14.5"H