Meiping with fruiting branches, Ming dynasty, Yongle period, AD 1403–24, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration. Height: 285 millimetres, Diameter: 177 millimetres. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF A610 © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum

Porcelain vase of meiping form. Underglaze blue with wide band of fruiting branches including peaches, cherries and pomegranate between bands of lappets and plantain leaves. All decorative bands separated by parallel blue lines. Base unglazed.

This meiping 梅瓶 is painted with sprays of peach, loquat, pomegranates, lychee, crab-apple and cherry around the body, with a border of stiff plantain leaves below and pendant petal panels above. Its base is unglazed. Imperial ceramics were relatively expensive to produce as the kilns consumed large quantities of fuel to reach the required high temperatures and the porcelains had to be fired in individual saggars (clay fire boxes). Each of these saggars could only be used once since they vitrified which precluded sufficient circulation of air in the firing.

Porcelain vase of meiping form. Underglaze blue with wide band of fruiting branches including peaches, cherries and pomegranate between bands of lappets and plantain leaves. All decorative bands separated by parallel blue lines. Base unglazed.