Ding is an important Chinese utensil. Bronze dings started in Shan more than 3500 years ago and was used for ceremonial and cooking purposes. Soon it became the most important utensil and a symbol of imperial power, (鼎者國之重器也). This ding has a fine, hard, and thick body made of Ma Chan Hill clay(麻倉山瓷泥,簡稱麻倉土）. The clay was used to make imperial wares during early Ming (including Xuande ); sometimes during firing it yields “kiln red”(窯紅或火石紅) that has a color ranging from brownish yellow to orange red. Xuande (1426-1435 AD porcelain wares are known to be heavily built; this is a good example. The stout four feet are disproportional strong for porcelain wares of this size, perhaps intending to make an impression of power and stability. The walls and the ridges around the mouth rim are not straight, warp somewhat, demonstrating the difficulty of making/firing flat porcelain surface at high temperature during Xuande. The intense blue colored glaze is also unique for Xuande period. Its surface has lost almost all the shine of newly fired porcelain, which is called thief gloss (新瓷釉面的火氣賊光). Under 25x magnification glass, the lack of uniformity of blue is seen, with white and blackish blue dots intermingling. On ridgelines the blue glaze drains thin and showing white clay below. This phenomenon is common among ancient monochrome glazes, and is called Chu Jin (出筋). These are a characteristic of Yuan and early Ming blue glaze. On one side the motif is a trigram (Ba Gua八卦紋) that was derived from Yuan motifs. But the motif on the other side, cross-sabers, is extremely rare in ancient Chinese porcelain; perhaps it was due to Arabian influence that existed during Yuan and early Ming. Although this Ding is not marked, all the features indicate that it was made during Xuande for palace use. (During early Ming many imperial wares were not marked.) . From Dr. Robert I-San Lin (#1541), a senior Chinese artwork appraiser, whose grandfather was a major Chinese antique merchant in early 1900s. (Dr. Lin’s bio, in Journal of Authentication of Artworks, 2015, available). Brought to California in 1960s. 宣德藍釉小瓷鼎.八卦紋源自元代,交劍紋可能是受阿拉伯文化的影響，元朝到明早期東西商業交往很發達，宣瓷所用的蘇麻泥青便是從阿拉伯進口. 19.9 (H) x 14 x 9.2 cm; 1304 grams.