The bulging body of the vase is applied with a pair of lion-mask loose-ring handles between bands of applied florette-shaped bosses above and below. The base of the neck is moulded with three bow-string bands while another moulded bow-string band encircles the upper foot. The vase is covered under an even translucent bluish-green glaze with the exception of the foot ring, Edo-period Japanese wood box.

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, acquired prior to 1930.

Note: The form of this vase is based on that of the ancient bronze gu. Compare to a Longquan vase of this form dated to Southern Song-Yuan dynasty in the Tokyo National Museum, which is moulded with four lion masks on the bulging body beneath plantain leaves, see collection number TG-2968; and one with a ruyi-scroll retrieved from the Sinan shipwreck, the vessel destined to Japan that sank off the Korean coast in 1323.