This vase belongs to a group of
famille-verte porcelains which represent a new direction in porcelain painting. The theme of spectatorship and community engagement runs throughout, with figures naturalistically reacting to one another and actively responding to the events before them. The same elements are found in contemporaneous New Year pictures (
nianhua), which circulated widely as woodblock prints and were a source of inspiration for ceramicists at Jingdezhen. The Dragon Boat Festival was a favorite subject for these prints, and possibly provided the basis for this vase and others of its type.
A larger famille-verte rouleau vase, also depicting the Dragon Boat Festival, is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 14.40.85). A related vase, but in rouleau form and with women welcoming a phoenix, from J.T. Tai & Co. sold in these rooms, 22nd March 2011, lot 108.