A pair of Ming white and blue porcelain bottles. Each with globular body tapering into a tall neck, spreading towards the mouth; low foot and glazed base. Painted in violet blue round the body are floral sprays in a broad band divided by a formal central border, which is interrupted by four roundels containing rustic scenes: a peasant in a paddy field, a fisherman with a lobster pot, a farmer with a sheaf on his shoulder, and a scholar reclining with a book, enclosed within petal borders. Round the neck are four ‘tulip’ motifs with blooms resembling pinks.

See also RCIN 1166.

The place of the bottles' manufacture, at Jingdezhen, is indicated by a large sherd from a similar bottle also painted with ‘tulip’ motifs, the same border below and similar roundels (disposed, however, in two bands round the body), which was excavated at Jingdezhen from the Shibaqiao kiln-site.

Text adapted from Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen: Volume I.