This ovoid vase has a square rim and is painted over a clear crackled glaze with a daimyō procession. The retinue is partly screened by flowering hibiscus that encircles the foot, so the figures seem to pass behind a hedge of blossom. On the high shoulder, trailing vines of wisteria hang down towards the procession.
The device of half-concealing a crowded figure scene behind flowers adds depth to a small surface and is a subtle variation on the studio’s best-known subject. The vase is sixteen centimetres high and signed ‘Yabu Meizan’ in a gilt cartouche on the base. Offered at Bonhams, Fine Japanese Works of Art, New York, on 16 September 2014, lot 2271. It realised US$20,000 including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of US$7,000–US$9,000.