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

This vase is evoking a qingbai vase of the Southern Song (1127–1279) or Yuan (1279–1368) dynasties, but deviates from the style of those periods in several ways. The design is incoherent, a combination between a stylized flower scroll and a naturalistic nature scene, with oddly depicted birds; the flat handles are unusual; and the glaze, which was applied twice inside the rim, behaves oddly, the lower layer being very white, and the more thickly applied areas turning murky.

The vase is of baluster form, with wide rounded shoulder, high flaring foot with an angular edge, and tall neck with widely flaring rim, flanked by two flat handles. The handles are emerging from the mouths of animal heads, and hold separately made rings which are fixed with glaze at top and bottom. The body is incised on either side with a bird hovering above a cluster of lotus, the plants joined as if forming a continuous scroll. The light blue-tinged glaze leaves the underside of the foot in the brown-burnt biscuit.