modelled after a Middle Eastern metal prototype, the flattened spherical body rising to a waisted neck and a small bulb-shaped mouth, set with two elegantly arched strap handles ending in a leaf-shaped terminal, freely painted in deep tones of cobalt accented with 'heaping and piling', the domed circular front and back with a formal rosette centred by a yin-yang medallion within a ring of petal lappets, surrounded by a radiating eight-pointed starburst of alternating foliate and floral motifs, the larger leaves dotted at the apex, all within a formal 'half-cash' diaper border around the edge, the upper bulb picked out with a narrow band of asters and carnations between double-line borders repeated at the rim and a single fillet collaring the neck, the handles outlined with double lines and decorated with a spray of lotus at the terminus, above two blue lines running down the narrow sides, covered overall with a glossy glaze of fine, smooth texture, the low rounded square foot ring left unglazed