Porcelain water sprinkler with underglaze blue decoration, Ming dynasty, Zhentong-Jingtai period (1436-1457). Height: 15 cm. Bequeathed by Henry J Oppenheim (1436-1456). © Trustees of the British Museum.

this 'min yao' water sprinkler has a long narrow tapering neck, a squat body and an inward-tapering foot. It is painted in underglaze blue with three lotus flowers on a continuous scroll around the body and above with three scrolling motifs below a band of three inverted plantain leaves. The base is unglazed.

The treatment of the lotus scroll here is very similar to a design on the exterior of a small dish excavated in Jiangxi province at Jingdezhen in a Jingtai period (1450-6) tomb.