Bowl with Design of Phoenixes on a Lotus Scroll Ground, Ming dynasty, Wanli period (1573–1620). Jingdezhen ware; porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue decoration, 7.3 x 20.3 cm. Saint Louis Art Museum, Funds given by Viola Story in memory of Eugene "Buddy" Story, 210:1992.

The outside of this bowl is adorned with a bombastic display of two full-tailed phoenixes in glorious flight amid leafy tendrils. The tidy round motifs decorating the interior, which can be seen in the additional image at left, provide a sedate and courtly show of more phoenix birds, a symbol often associated with the imperial couple, especially the empress. The refined details of the narrow decorative bands at the rim and foot of this bowl may appear to be stencils, but every minute dot and line was painted by hand.