Meiping Vase with Carved Floral Sprays
Unknown Artist
960–1279
Medium
Porcelain with pale bluish-white glaze, qingbai ("blue-white") ware
Dimensions
37.7 × 23.5 cm · h. 37.5 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Donna and James Reid
Accession Number
2017.20
About this artwork
This magnificent plum vase (meiping) derives its name from being used to hold a branch from a flowering plum tree. Vases of this shape with a round shoulder and narrow opening originally served as wine containers. Kilns in southern China that produced this ware with a transparent bluish glaze were among the first that applied underglaze blue-and-white decoration, which became popular during the Yuan (1271–1368) and Ming (1368–1644) dynasties. These elegantly carved floral sprays on a monochromat...