A blue-and-white Ming porcelain bottle. With globular body tapering into a tall neck, spreading towards the mouth; low foot and glazed base. Painted in outline and wash in rich violet blue round the body are the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (zhulin qixian) in a landscape with growing bamboo, V-shaped grasses, a view of mountain peaks, and parts of a city wall appearing above mist, the design interrupted on one side by a cliff and swirling mist. On the neck of the bottle are ‘tulip’ motifs, with a narrow floral scroll border round the shoulder

The ‘Seven Sages’ were a group of literati of the third century AD who met to drink wine and discuss literature.

See also RCIN 1402.

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