A compact ovoid bottle with a short upright mouth, this vase pairs two modes of Meizan’s decoration. The body is given over to quiet landscape: thatched farmhouses, bare trees and distant hills are rendered in soft greys, browns and touches of gold, with wide passages of open cream ground suggesting mist. By contrast, the shoulder and neck are wrapped in densely worked brocade patterning, like a textile collar laid over the painted view.
The vase belongs to the group of Meizan wares given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1910 by Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Dingwall DSO, with Art Fund support. Like its companions, it was bought at the Japan–British Exhibition in London that year. The museum’s register describes it simply as decorated faience from Osaka. Two inscriptions are recorded on it, ‘Yabu Meizan’ and ‘Meizan’, a reminder that the studio’s marks could vary even on works made for the same exhibition. The museum dates the piece to 1900–1910.