robustly potted in an elongated ovoid form with a short narrow neck above broad rounded shoulders tapering sharply to the flared foot, deftly incised on the body with two lotus bouquets, each composed of large blooms, a large and a small leaf, a pod and other water plants, their stems all bent and tied with a ribbon, set between a camellia scroll collaring the neck, a lingzhi scroll draping the shoulders, and a lotus-scroll band and key-fret skirting the waist, all beneath a glossy deep yellowish-green glaze.

Provenance: Private Collection, France.
J.J. Lally & Co., New York..

Literature: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1608 and p. 2, fig. 1b.

Note: The similarity of Longquan celadons and Jingdezhen white, and blue and white porcelains in the Hongwu and Yongle periods has long been recognized, but only recently have excavations at the Longquan kiln sites supported the notion that imperial wares might have been made at Longquan, commissioned by the court in Beijing; and an exhibition organized by Ts'ai Mei-fen at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, has since confirmed the existence of much fine Longquan celadon ware in the palace collection. 

This meiping shape is characteristic of the Longquan kilns' production in the early Ming period, and an identical vase in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, was included in the exhibition Bilü – Mingdai Longquan yao qingci/Green – Longquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, cat. no. 68. The incised decoration is closely related to motifs developed at the Jingdezhen kilns, although the same design does not appear to be known from that manufactory. Kiln wasters of many related vases and matching covers have been excavated from the imperial Longquan kilns at Chuzhou, Zhejiang province, see Ye Yingting and Hua Yunong, Faxian: Da Ming Chuzhou Longquan guanyao [Discovery: Imperial ware of the great Ming dynasty from Longquan in Chuzhou], Hangzhou, 2005, pp. 39-101.