A vessel of this shape is commonly called meiping in Chinese, meaning “plum vase”. This example demonstrates a thousand-year continuation and modification in East Asian ceramic tradition. Yu Peng worked with ceramics very early in his career before focusing on painting. Later in life, he returned to the medium by going to Jingdezhen. There, the artist lightly carved an unglazed porcelain vase with an image of boys in a bamboo grove, in a style resembling his dry-brush ink paintings. Kiln workers then glazed and fired the vessel.