Meiping vase with ‘sweet white’ glaze. Porcelain with incised decoration and transparent glaze . Height: 320 millimetres. Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province 江西省, 景德鎮, Ming dynasty, Yongle period, AD1403–1424. Registration number: PDF.468. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. Bristish Museum.  © Trustees of the British Museum

Porcelain vase of meiping form. The vase has blue-toned glaze, except for base. There are fine incised lotus flowers in the panels and around the shoulder. 

Patronage of the Yongle emperor stimulated the creation of some of the finest white porcelains ever made with a unique lustrous quality. This ewer and meiping vase are incised and covered with a 甜白(tianbai ‘sweet-white’) glaze. Potters were able to fire tianbai porcelains at a higher temperature as they have a higher proportion of kaolin in the clay than earlier white wares and a reduced amount of limestone in the glaze. Ewers of this shape are known as a 僧帽壺 (sengmao hu ‘monk’s cap ewer’) (case 61). The Yongle emperor ordered the ewers for Buddhist ceremonies to mourn his parents.

Bibliographic reference: Medley, Margaret, Volume 7: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 7 of 12, Tokyo, Kodansha ltd, 1975