Vase; Qing dynasty, China, late 19th century. Porcelain. Green family. Measurements: 47 x 28 cm (diameter). With a circular base and an ovoid body, wider at the shoulders, the tibor is profusely decorated with mostly vegetal patterns. It has a completely detachable lid. The tibor or mei-ping, of which we see here a particularly clean and essential form, is an inverted ovoid-bellied vase with a lid, intended to contain the first flowering branches of the cherry tree. It is a typology widely used in the production of Chinese ceramics and porcelain, both for the domestic and export markets. The term Green Family is the Western name for a style of Chinese polychrome porcelain derived from wucai (literally 'five colours'). Wucai was created during the Ming dynasty, and has been widely used in China ever since. It is characterised by only some of the motifs being executed in cobalt-blue underglaze, while the rest of the decoration is applied already on the glaze. In addition, black glaze is added for the outlines, in the early days covered with a translucent green glaze to fix it. The Green Family style is a type of wucai called yingcai ("solid colours"), which is characterised by the predominance of copper oxide green. The name yingcai refers to the quality of the glazes, which are crystalline because they are mostly applied to the glaze.