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Meiping Vase with Carved Floral Sprays
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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 monochromatic ground reflect the refined taste of the Song dynasty emperors.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineMeiping Vase with Carved Floral Sprays, 960–1279. China, Song dynasty (960–1279). Porcelain with pale bluish-white glaze, qingbai ("blue-white") ware; overall: 37.7 x 23.5 cm (14 13/16 x 9 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Donna and James Reid, 2017.20
