‘Pilgrim’ flask with flowers. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration. Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province江西省, 景德鎮. Ming dynasty, Yongle period, AD 1403–24. PDF C602 © The Trustees of the British Museum

Porcelain flask of baoyue form with round flattened body. Two strap handles at the sides. Underglaze blue with large scale scrolling flowers and narrow band of classic scrolls around the edge. Height: 293 mmm-Width: 203 mm-Depth: 132 mm. On loan from Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. 

This flask is decorated beneath the glaze with cobalt-blue flowers. As well as producing objects following the shapes of Middle Eastern dining utensils for the overseas market, Jingdezhen craftsmen made objects inspired by Middle Eastern forms to fulfil court demand for foreign ‘exotica’. 

Bibliographic reference: Medley, Margaret, Volume 7: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 7 of 12, Tokyo, Kodansha ltd, 1975

Medley, Margaret, Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1976

Pierson, Stacey, Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 2004