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The Flared stem of this stem cup is divided into three sections by horizontal ribs in imitation of a stalk of bamboo. As noted by J. Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001,p 463, “bamboo is assigned Confucian qualities which are much admired in a man - it does not break under pressure, and is constant, never losing its colour even in adverse conditions.” Harrison-Hall illustrates, pp. 463-64, nos. 16:2-16:5, four longquan celadon stem cups with similar “bamboo” stems, all of which are dated Yuan to Ming dynasty, c.1300-1400. The bowls of the stem cups illustrated by Harrison-Hall, however, are all plain, unlike the bowl of the current stam cup which is carved with petal lappets. Similar Longquan celadon stem cups are in the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, illustrated in The Charles B. Hoyt Collection Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1952, p. 57, no. 227: in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum: Chinese Ceramics II, Tokyo, 1990, p. 7,no, 19; and in the Seligman Collection, published by J. Ayers, The Seligman Collection of oriental Art, Vol. II, London, 1964, pl. LXI, no. D187, described on pp. 90-91. See, also examples in the British Museum, London, of similar form without the lotus scroll on the exterior, illustrated by R. Harrison-Hall in Catalogue of the Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London,2001, pp. 463-464, nos. 16:2-16:5.