Exquisitely worked to the form of a folded lotus leaf, the exterior with additional conglomeration of lotus blossoms and leafy tendrils issuing from a curved undercut stems forming a root. The lotus is indigenous to ancient China and the present lot skillfully render the flower and its various component, including its petals and stems, unopened, Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073 CE), the writer of a well-known essay about lotus, referred to the elegant plant as ‘the flower of purity and integrity’ since it emerges from mud but the beautiful form of the lotus remain unstained while it grows. Compare with a very similar vessel worked in the form of an elegant lotus leaf from the Palace Museum in Beijing, illustrated in The complete collection of treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware II, Shanghai, 2008, no.187, p.226.
L: 24 cm