China, Jiangxi Province, Jingdezhen kilns, Ming dynasty (1368–1644) / late 1400s
Prunus Vase (Meiping) with Blossoming Lotus
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Prunus Vase (Meiping) with Blossoming Lotus as ceramic (China, Jiangxi Province, Jingdezhen kilns, Ming dynasty (1368–1644) · late 1400s).
The shoulders of the vase are decorated with ruyi -shaped clouds.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this ceramic as Porcelain with polychrome glazes, Fahua ware.
The museum's collection notes: According to 11th-century poet Zhou Dunyi, “all people like peonies, but I alone like the lotus because it emerges from the mud unstained.” The lotus is a symbol of purity and popular among Chinese literati and in Buddhism. This vase shows lotus flowers rising from the water’s surface depicted in elegant yet simple ripples. Made in a kiln at Jingdezhen in southern China, this vase is an example of the fahua technique—decoration with raised outlines produced by squeezing clay from a tube onto the vase’s surface. Colors are applied to fill the outlines before firing.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtPrunus Vase (Meiping) with Blossoming LotusOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.