Bowl on footing, spreading sides. Covered with a slightly matt glaze. Decorated in underglaze blue with eight stylised characters. Around the mouthrim a band with half-flower rosettes, around the foot lotus flowers linked by scrolls. The inside is undecorated. On the base the six-character mark Chenghua in a double circle. As the previous examples (cats. 55–57) this bowl also belongs to the group of formally painted ware, but is possibly of a later date considering the ‘dry’ matt glaze and especially the semi-archaic characters in seal script. These are illegible and strongly resemble similar decorative characters applied to red Yixing stoneware of the 19th century (Valfré). The decoration is accomplished but still quite formal, for example, the lotus scrolls. All these features suggest that this piece could have been manufactured during the reign of Emperor Daoguang or later in the 19th century (1821-1851).