Decorated with large-scale Court ladies and Boys engaged in a New Year’s celebration in a palace garden. Finely and boldly painted in vibrant enamels and underglaze blue.
Ex: Private American Collection
NOTE: The underfoot is inscribed with four characters reading: 耿衣金瓶 (meaning: Jinlian and Ping’er dressed in bright robes). Though the decorations is usually identified as a New Year’s celebration scene, the inscription identifies the ladies in the decoration as two main characters from The Plum in The Golden Vase or The Golden Lotus. The novel was very popular and notoriously racy, based upon the historic epic The Water Margin. The inscription may be more a projection than the actual source of this subject.