This polychrome porcelain Ling-lung bottle vase is decorated with t’ao-t’ie masks and bats on a fine openwork background of stylised clouds beneath a leaf pattern around the neck and ruyi pattern on the shoulder, all in aubergine, green, black and yellow. It has a fret pattern around the mouth and a pointed border around the base. The base is sunken, glazed and marked with six engraved Kangxi character marks. This type of vessel was considered to be Devil’s work or Ling-lung because the sides were perforated and pierced, but the vessel did not leak the fluids that were put into it. This vase is an example of the San-ts’ai glazing technique also known as fa-hua. The porcelain is fired first without glaze to a porcelain temperature and it is then decorated with enamel colours and fired again at a much lower temperature, the colours being separated from each other either by incised lines or by small, carefully applied threads of slip, as in the case of this vase.