Blue & White Chinoiserie Handpainted Ginger Jar - Foo Dogs Motif

A excellent example of hand-painted artisan pottery, the blue and white aesthetic of a Chinoiserie suits every interior. Each ginger jar has its own one of a kind finishing touch in the perfectly imperfect hand-painted frolicking Foo Dogs or Chinese Lion Dogs motif.

Chinese guardians, Foo or Fu, Lion Dogs, are in fact lions, a protective symbolism. Their happenstance resemblance to certain Asian dogs, like the Tibetan Mastiff and Chow Chow, is the only reason they are referred to as Foo "Dogs".  

Foo dogs are a pair. Foo dogs are symbolic, protective statues, designed in pairs. One female, the other male. Ying, the female symbolically protects those  dwelling inside the home, typically depicted with a cub under her paw, while the Yang, the male protects the structure itself, with a globe "the Earth" under his paw.

Versions of the foo dog have been used in homes in China as symbolically protective decor for hundreds of years.

History of Chinoiserie

Traditional and wildly popular since the 1700's, Chinoiserie, or the replicated appearance of Chinese art forms, namely the renowned porcelain blue and white ceramics, have made a statement in households for centuries, though its roots go much farther back than that in the Chinese art forms.

Features:

• Market Find
• Hand-painted with a dusky cobalt blue-and-white dual Foo Dog/Lion motif
• Variations in hand-craftsmanship make each painted vase unique
• Good condition. Not marked. 

Dimensions

• Approx. Height: 6-1/8" in
• Approx. Width: 5-3/8" in 
• Approx. Diameter: 4-3/4" in

Due to the hand-painted nature of this item, product may not be 100% identical to the jar shown in pictures. Slight variations occur and are part of what make handmade so special.