Gourd Flask with Floral Scrolls

This large blue-and-white pilgrim–shaped vase was fashioned from fine kaolinic porcelain at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. The body of the vase is of quatrefoil shape merging into a highly similar shaped neck, flanked by two scroll handles. The base is of oval quatrefoil form. The vase is decorated with lotus and other flowers, leaves, and scrolling tendrils in brilliant underglaze cobalt blue beneath a pellucid glaze. The underfoot bears an imperial mark.