A rare Chinese bottle vase

A rare Chinese bottle vase, with a pear shaped body and a slender neck, painted with two lions, playing with brocade balls, the a neck with prunus and bamboo shoots, the decoration in blackish- blue, the base with a four character mark Da Ming Mein Zao. Small rim chips. Probably 16th century, 18cm. Provenance: The Eumorfopoulos Collection, Sotheby & Co, 29th May 1940, lot 234, where it was catalogued as probably 14th century.