U. arrived with two antique, Chinese jars: an embossed, Qin Dynasty dragon and phoenix (called a "Toh King" in the Philippines and characterized by the small handles round the jar); and another Qin Dynasty jar with lid that looks quite like the jar in TinTin and The Blue Lotus (quite tempting, considering that the fiberglass TinTin jar is no longer for sale despite the fact that it isn't exactly coveted in this country).

I opted for the albeit-more-expensive dragon and phoenix. U. showed me more photos and there is at least one other jar that will look fantastic in our house.

There is also an absolutely luscious jar with embossed lizards but I passed on that.

Despite the blue and white, these are fire dragons. The phoenix, of course, is also of the element fire.