Small plate on footring, flat rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with a shepherd and shepherdess with their sheep on either side of a centrally placed tree. In the background spiralling cloud motifs. The sides undecorated. On the rim a continuous pattern of flower scrolls. On the reverse two long flower sprays. On the base the six-character mark Chenghua in a double circle. The shepherd and shepherdess may represent Adam and Eve after their expulsion from Paradise. A Western (biblical?) illustration was probably used as the model, but this has not been traced. This is an early example of a narrative chine de commande representation in underglaze blue. Other examples are known but these differ from each other in the way the representation is painted.