Mantou bowl, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424), Jingdezhen, porcelain with underglaze blue decoration. Diameter: 13.3 cm, Height: 4.5 cm. 1953,0415.1 © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum

This shallow bowl has a domed centre known as a mantou xin [steamed bun centre], corresponding concave base and rounded sides which flare outwards. It is painted beneath the glaze in very dark cobalt blue which has fired black in places. Inside it is decorated with a concentric design with a stylized four-petalled flower in the centre, surrounded by a band of flower scroll and a further band with ruyi heads, encircled and linked by looped tendrils. The inner rim has a border of pendant spearheads linked together and the outer rim is bordered with a band of chrysanthemums. Around the foot, issuing from the base, is a band of overlapping large and small lotus petals, outlined in blue with blue centres. 

This bowl is dated by stylistic comparison to a bowl of similar size, shape and decoration, excavated in 1994 in the Yongle stratum at Dongmentou, Zhushan, Jingdezhen. The form of this bowl is related to Mamluk metal work, possibly incised silver ware, in which the spearhead looped border may be found. Harrison-Hall 2001 3:27