莲纹
The lotus is a Buddhist symbol of purity, rising unstained from muddy water, and one of the most consistently used floral motifs across the full span of Jingdezhen production.
Motif Study
Because the lotus flower emerges clean from murky water, it became established in Buddhist iconography as an emblem of purity and spiritual detachment, and this meaning carried directly into Chinese decorative arts. The motif's durability across a thousand years of production — from Song celadon through Qing enamels — makes it one of the most continuous visual threads in the Jingdezhen record.
Lotus scroll borders appear on Yuan-dynasty blue-and-white ware as a standard framing device, and the motif remains common through the Ming and Qing in three principal treatments: a continuous scrolling border, a central medallion, and a full pond scene with lotus, waterfowl, and reeds. The pond-scene version, sometimes called 'lotus pond' decoration, was especially prominent in Yuan and early Ming export wares bound for Islamic markets, where large-scale dishes carried the motif as a central design.
Lotus scroll work follows a repeating rhythmic structure — flower, leaf, tendril — that made it well suited to border bands of varying width, from narrow rim decoration to full-body wraparound registers. This structural flexibility is part of why it persisted across so many forms and periods without falling out of production.
Further Reading