This porcelain Annamese lien-tzu-shaped bowl has a buff clay body decorated in underglaze blue with a floral scroll and lotus motif border on the outside and a sacred fungus scroll border and chrysanthemum panel on the inside. The base is sunken, partly glazed and unmarked. The name Annam designates various areas of what is today Vietnam. The Chinese used this name for this territory and it means “pacified South” The most important of the Annamese ceramic wares are the blue and white examples, such as the one exhibited here, which are related in both shape and design to the Chinese ceramics of the early Ming dynasty.