An oval bottle vase of Chinese porcelain with peach-shaped body, encircled by three ribs above a spreading foot, the shoulder shaped with unusual pointed projections in front and behind, with a waisted, hexagonal neck spreading towards the mouth. The domed and panelled cover, with pine cone finial, fits within a hexagonal burnished and pounced band on the top rim of the vase. Above this is situated a pair of ‘dolphin mask’(?) handles of low quality on either side of the neck, attached to a fluted band with three husk pendants on the front face. Below this is a tap of acanthus leaf design, with a scallop shell basin below. The vase is set into the rear part of a circular moulded rocky base, with slightly yellower tone of gilding, raised on an open balustrade over a ring base with four ball feet.

The monochrome grey-green celadon glaze which had been a staple of the Longquan kilns for centuries during the Ming period and earlier was taken up by the porcelain factories of Jingdezhen in the seventeenth century; and from the reign of Kangxi (1662–1722) onwards, wares of distinction were made in this style, frequently with reticent incised decoration. They were among those which the marchand-merciers of Paris most often sought out for mounting in gilt bronze, and many fine examples of their art, together with that of English bronze makers, displayed to effect at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, were brought together by George IV.

Text adapted from Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen: Volume II.