明永樂

An almost identical ewer of this same size and design is illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Shogakukan, vol. 14, 1976, p. 163, no. 143. Although the painting format of the both these ewers is still arranged in registers, much in keeping with its Hongwu period predecessors, it is interesting to note the lack of lotus lappets above the foot; this absence leaves a wider space on the main body to render the scrolling floral design. Compare the stylised design executed on a Hongwu ewer decorated with scrolling chrysanthemum on the main body and lotus sprays on the spout excavated from the Zhushan site, exhibited at the Chang Foundation, Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, 1996, and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 75, no. 4. By the Yongle period, the painting style had transformed to become more naturalistic with a greater innovative use of the brush and shading of the cobalt as can be seen on an ewer from the Yongle stratum, decorated with chrysanthemum flowers, illustrated op. cit., p. 177, no. 57.
Other comparable ewers designed with lotus lappets around the base are published: the first illustrated by J. Ayers and R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, 1986, vol. II, no. 619, and the other from the Ardebil Shrine now in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran, illustrated by T. Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, Hong Kong, vol. III, no. A80.