This vase of compressed meiping form, on a flared foot, is painted on a clear crackled ground with a continuous design of frogs in various human-like attitudes. It is among the most whimsical of Meizan’s works. The frieze is banded above and below by tendrils of morning glory and pinks, the foot carries a lotus scroll, and the rim is gilt.
Bonhams likened the design to the Chōjū jinbutsu giga, the twelfth-century picture scrolls of animals at play. The vase realised US$93,750 in New York in 2014, one of the highest prices recorded for the studio. It is signed ‘Yabu Meizan’. Offered at Bonhams, Fine Japanese Works of Art, New York, on 16 September 2014, lot 2267. It realised US$93,750 including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of US$10,000–US$15,000.