A meiping (Chinese: 梅瓶; pinyin: méipíng; lit.
[3] It was originally used as a wine vessel, but since the Song dynasty (960–1279) it also became popular as a plum vase and got its name "meiping".
[4] It is tall, with a narrow base spreading gracefully into a wide body, followed by a sharply-rounded shoulder, a short and narrow neck, and a small opening.
The equivalent shape in Korean ceramics, where it was derived from Chinese examples, is called a Maebyeong.
A distinct variant is the "truncated meiping", where there is only the top half of the usual shape, giving a squat vase with a wide bottom.