Description: Ewers are a stately and magnificient Canton form. We believe the larger ewers were used for wine or water and the smallest ones for oil & vinegar. All are rare and the smallest might be considered very rare. Here are the similiarities between the 8 ewers pictured here: all have the rain cloud border at the neck’s top, below that are leaves pointing upwards, all have a small raised rib around the middle of the base and all have glazed bottoms. The leaves have been called acanthus leaves but our research does not confirm this as they differ considerably from acanthus pictures. It has also been suggested that they are Ming leaves and there is one variety of Ming Aralia that comes close. This same leaf decoration also appears on water bottles and bulbous vases.

The differences between the ewers shown here are: there are 2nd rain cloud borders on 4 ewers near the bottoms of the bases and 4 do not have them, the 4 that have a second set of rain cloud borders are made of thinner porcelain and are lighter. Quite possibly the heavier ewers were made earlier and the lighter ones later. Note that the fifth ewer from the left has a squat base in relation to its height, this is quite unusual. We have also seen one ewer that has an unglazed bottom.

Being a major Canton form they are well decorated and most have the desirable dark blue coloration. Their size range is 5 3/4″ to 12″ high. Of course there may be examples outside these parameters.