Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

A fragment of a similarly decorated bowl from the Yaozhou kiln site is published in Songdai Yaozhou yaozhi/The Yaozhou Kiln Site of the Song Period, Beijing, 1998, p.413, fig.204: 8.

The well-potted bowl has widely spreading, conical sides with a flared rim, and a short straight foot with very low footring. The inside is moulded with a design of four boys, each wearing scarves and boots, clambering among the stems of a lotus bouquet which is composed of a large lotus flower, bud, pod, leaf and a stem of arrow-head, all tied together with a ribbon. One boy is holding on to the leaf above his head, one sits astride the ribbon, one is dangling from the arrow-head stalk, and the last is hanging, head down, on the stem of the lotus bud, its naked bottom in the air. The ground around the design is combed to indicate waves, the uppermost band at the rim and the outside are undecorated. An olive-green glaze covers the whole piece except for the footring, where a brown biscuit is revealed. A thin layer of glaze on the base has fired a browning tone and has grit adhering.