Although this large dragon jar is not as large as the large dragon jars from the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong periods which were often 70 to 80 centimeters high, it is still a considerable piece of artifact. At least among all the porcelains discovered today, this large dragon jar is the largest in terms of size alone.

The function of this large dragon jar and the large blue and white jars painted with other patterns is actually mainly to serve as a water storage device for fire fighting in the palace and the upper class.

The Jingdezhen Pottery Records says that "most of the jars are painted with clouds and dragons or blue and white, so they are collectively named dragon jars", which points out the origin of the name of the ware. It was a special item for feudal emperors. As early as the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory had a dragon jar kiln, which was specially used to fire large dragon jars. During the Xuande period, there were 32 dragon jar kilns. In the Zhengde and Jiajing periods of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, due to the small number of blue kilns, the dragon jar kilns were vacant, so the dragon jar kilns were replaced with 16 blue kilns, and 16 large dragon jar kilns still existed.

During the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, fires often occurred in the palace due to eunuchs setting off fireworks and careless use of fire. Therefore, Emperor Jiajing attached great importance to fire prevention and sent people to Jingdezhen to make large dragon jars for storing water and fire prevention. However, more often than not, the large dragon jars were left unused and became de facto large fish tanks. At the same time, the large dragon jars were also used to store grain, oil, and water in the palace because of their durability.

After Wanli, as the imported Huiqing material gradually ran out, the craftsmen in the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln could only use domestic blue material. However, the color of the blue and white dragon jars they fired could no longer be compared with that of the Jiajing period. The Jiajing blue and white dragon jars became precious and rare items. Although Emperor Wanli was the Son of Heaven, his mausoleum had to use the large dragon jars of the "Made in the Jiajing Period of the Ming Dynasty" model.

The body of the Jiajing blue and white dragon jar is large and regular, with a simple and honest style and rich and bright colors. Its blue and white is brighter than the Yongle and Xuande blue and white, brighter than the Zhengde blue and white, and richer than the Chenghua blue and white. Therefore, it is both versatile and durable, elegant and mellow, and pleasing to the eye. Therefore, throughout the Ming Dynasty, only the Jiajing blue and white dragon jar was the best dragon jar.

Although this dragon jar is not very big, it is not small either. It is definitely a rare and top-quality blue-and-white dragon jar. This dragon jar alone is definitely a national treasure.

But it happened that this big dragon jar was filled with thatch. At first, Yang Jing thought that the thatch was to protect this blue and white dragon jar. But when he cleaned it, he found that there were some small porcelain pieces hidden in the belly of this big dragon jar.

These small porcelain pieces were not big in size and were all wrapped in tissue paper. When Yang Jing opened the tissue paper of one of the porcelain pieces, his eyes immediately widened.

"Damn! My luck can't be that good, right?"

Looking at the small cup floating motionlessly in the space, Yang Jing almost cried out! The small cup in his hand was not big, with a diameter of less than seven centimeters, a bottom diameter of less than three centimeters, and a height of no more than five centimeters. But even such a small cup had a cluster of bright peony flowers painted on it in five colors!

This pattern immediately made Yang Jing think of the name of a piece of porcelain - the Five-Colored Twelve Flower God Cup!

Moreover, the first cup that was opened had a peony flower painted on it. This should be the fourth cup among the Twelve Cups of the Flower God, the Peony Flower God Cup!

As for the inscription on the bottom, it is written in two lines of regular script with six characters: "Made in the Kangxi Period of the Qing Dynasty".

"Could it be that this blue-and-white dragon jar actually contains the legendary Twelve Cups of the Five-Colored Flower God? Or is it the Twelve Cups of the Five-Colored Flower God from the Kangxi era?"

Thinking of this, Yang Jing was really a little excited. If there really was a set of Kangxi Five-Colored Twelve Flower God Cups here, then the harvest would be really huge.

Yang Jing took out all the cups hidden in the big dragon jar, and sure enough, there were exactly twelve!

At this moment, Yang Jing's breathing became a little rapid.

In the Chinese ceramics industry, there are quite a few sets of porcelain. Porcelain sets have been popular since the Eastern Jin Dynasty. At that time, different varieties of daily-use porcelain were combined according to living habits and needs, such as cups, pots, and saucers as a set of tea sets, but there were relatively few varieties of combinations at that time.

The period when sets became increasingly abundant was during the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the largest set containing up to 200 pieces.

The most precious of the set is the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup. But in fact, the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup is not the only one. The Kangxi Five-Colored Twelve Flower God Cup and the Kangxi Blue-and-White Twelve Flower God Cup are also peerless works comparable to the Chicken Cup.

In the 19th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Zang Yingxuan was ordered to enter Jingdezhen and serve as the official porcelain supervisor, responsible for supervising the production of official kiln porcelain, marking the official start of production in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Liu Yuan was specifically responsible for designing porcelain styles. He was versatile and was ordered to design various imperial porcelains. He was good at firing five-color and doucai products and achieved remarkable results. Among the hundreds of porcelain samples designed by Liu Yuan, the Twelve Flower God Cup is unprecedented.

The twelve flower god cups designed by Liu Yuan are themed on narcissus, magnolia, peach blossom, peony, pomegranate, lotus, sunflower, osmanthus, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, rose and plum blossom. One flower for one month, these twelve flowers represent twelve famous women in Chinese history who are revered as "flower gods" and are decorated with corresponding poems.

The twelve flower gods are: the narcissus goddess Luo Shen in the first month, the apricot goddess Yang Yuhuan in the second month, the peach blossom goddess Xi Furen in the third month, the peony goddess Li Juan in the fourth month, the pomegranate goddess Gongsun in the fifth month, the lotus goddess Xi Shi in the sixth month, the sunflower goddess Li Furen in the seventh month, the osmanthus goddess Xu Xianfei in the eighth month, the chrysanthemum goddess Zuo Guipin in the ninth month, the hibiscus goddess Huarui Furen in the tenth month, the rose goddess Wang Zhaojun in the eleventh month, and the plum blossom goddess Shou Princess in the twelfth month.

There are different poems on each cup. The poem of the Narcissus Goddess in January is: The spring breeze plays with the sun and brings clear books, the night moon floats on the embankment.

The poem of the magnolia god in February is: The golden petals and green calyx bring the spring chill, and there are several kinds of yellow flowers.

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