Flask
- Gallery: Room 33
- Culture: Ming dynasty; Xuande
- Made in: Jingdezhen
- Date: 1426-1435
- Object type: flask
- Materials: porcelain
- Museum number: 1975,1028.19
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is a large porcelain flask from the Xuande period of the Ming dynasty. Its elegant shape features a round body with an oval cross-section and a tall tubular neck. You'll notice a continuous scrolling lingzhi pattern around the neck and a stylized lotus decoration on the body. The blooms grow from single stems on each side, framed by a classic scroll band along the rim.
Decorated with underglaze blue, the flask is both refined and powerful in form. The six-character Xuande reign mark at the base confirms its imperial origin. Though the shape may not be traditionally Chinese, it likely borrows from Near Eastern styles, showing the global influences of the time. Crafted in Jingdezhen, it reflects the artistic heights of early 15th-century Chinese porcelain.
See it in person
Flask is on display in Room 33 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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