Collection: Jars and Cachepots

Blue and White Porcelain Jars and Cachepots

Small vessels for a desk, a mantel or a windowsill, useful whether or not you put anything in them. Everything here comes from Cobalt Guild, who buy from the antiques markets of Jingdezhen, the Chinese town that supplied porcelain to the imperial court for centuries. Sizes run from a jar the size of a fist to pieces over ten inches across.

The mini round jars are the easiest place to start. They measure about four by four and three quarter inches, sit in the low twenties, and come in a run of traditional patterns: Peony, Bird and Flower, Three Friends, Playing Children, Double Happiness and Landscape. Several of those motifs carry meaning rather than decoration. Three Friends is bamboo, plum and pine, the plants that survive winter. Double Happiness is a wedding symbol. They group well in threes, which is how most people buy them.

Above those sit the storage jars and lidded pieces. Most are hand painted and wheel thrown, which is why the glaze varies and the painted line is never quite identical between two pieces. The scrolling lotus lidded jar is finished in a semi matte blue and white at around ten and a half inches across. The Four Seasons lidded jar takes the same idea into pink and green. There is a green and white bird and fruiting tree version in a fresh green glaze, and a rustic peony and double happiness jar at roughly six inches.

The cachepots are the ones meant for plants. A cachepot holds a pot rather than being planted into, so it can move between rooms and does not need drainage. The three friends cachepot is the largest at around ten inches, with a smaller country peony version in the low thirties.

At the top end is the umbrella stand, a rustic piece with a phoenix motif at roughly ten and a half inches square, which is the one people buy when they want a single large blue and white piece rather than a group of small ones.

One practical note worth knowing: these pieces are not eligible for shipping promotions, and a small handling fee applies to make sure they arrive intact. They are packed accordingly.

We keep the range in stock. If there is a particular pattern or size you are looking for that you are not able to find on the website, reach out to us and we will be glad to help.