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Hello, Does anyone know what these little jars are and what the markings on the bottom are? Thank you for any help.

The cup appears to be for tea, so the jars may be meant to hold tea leaves. Bur since you don't say how small they are, we can't say whether they are meant to hold scrawny little Western tea leaves or bigger Chinese ones fertilized organically with help from the "Eight Horses of Mu Wang", which steeds appear to form the motif. You can find out more about those horses at Wikipedia.org. As for those marks on the bases, they say Made during the (Ming) Chenghua Reign (1465-1487), but alas, the porcelains appears to be modern from their forms and somewhat naïve painting style.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thanks Bill, your information was VERY helpful. They measure as follows: Larger one Measures app 3 3/4" tall and is app. 10" around. The jar inside of it is app 2" tall with a 2 1/4" opening.
Smaller Jar measures app 3 3/4" tall and is app. 9 1/2" around.

Thanks. Such wares might have been used in restaurants or homes. The lidded pieces would not have been used to drink or eat from directly, I think, as the mouth rims wouldn't accommodate it very well. Thus my speculation about tea leaf storage, though they could have held a condiment such as preserved ginger or pepper sauce.

Forgot to mention, but the jardinière I showed is about 11 inches in diameter and 6.75 inches high. Dates to the Guangxu period (1875-1908).

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thank you for all your help. That is a beautiful piece.

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