Cranes, as symbols of longevity, were a popular motif on Chinese ceramics. The design on this jar, known as 'hundred cranes', was therefore particularly auspicious. The paintings of designs on blue and white porcelains so that the ground appears blue and the individual motifs appear reserved in white was a feature of mid-Yuan and Xuande wares. This technique was time consuming and required more skill than the normal blue and white designs, so that it fell from use during the later 15th century and early 16th century.

The use of reserve decoration became popular again in the Jiajing and Wanli periods where various designs, particularly those of birds and floral motifs were depicted against a blue ground.

A similar jar in the collection of the Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, illustrated in Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 88. Compare also to a jar of this pattern sold in our London Rooms, 21 June 2001, lot 91; and two sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1 November 1994, lot 47 and another sold 29 April 1997, lot 555.