Chinese Vase Depicting Novices

Five round-faced children in orange robes crowd a vase with gilded handles.

This vase depicting novices is from China, and dates to the 20th century. It is porcelain. A novice is a person in the early stage of training for monastic life, and novices appear in Buddhist art across East and Southeast Asia. Wide-bellied white vase painted in orange-red with a cluster of small children in patterned robes among plants. Gold-toned beast-head handles flank the neck, and a leaf border runs above a band of geometric ornament. It is 6.75 inches high and 5 in diameter.

Lively company, firmly held in place by a glaze.