《磁州窯瓶內的白蓮》是一幅近代油畫。
常玉作為中國早期流洋的畫家（中國最早期的留法學生），其作品具有中西方結合的特色。由於當時巴黎流行中國瓷器，其作品展現當時中西方的經濟文化交流頻繁。
此畫中展現了荷花的兩種形態。其一是瓷器上荷花的形象，筆畫比較生硬，也展現了瓷器的特色。荷花的葉子該是橢圓形的，而不是扁長的葉子形象。而插在花瓶中的荷花的綫條則更流暢，形象更符合中國畫下的荷花形象，更符合植物的形態。
畫家以簡單线條造型和色塊呈現花瓶與花瓶中的蓮花。在技巧上，其作品看似毫無章法，但其表現形式及神韻是難以模仿的。
在黑色帶一絲綠色的背景下，把白色的花瓶與荷花襯托的更慘白，死氣沉沉的，展現出一種生命力的流逝。
Lotus in a Carved Vase is a contemporary oil painting by Sanyu, who was one of the earliest Chinese painters who went abroad to pursue their artistic careers. (In particular, Sanyu was one of the earliest Chinese students who studied in France.) His works, produced in an era characterised by a frequent economic and cultural exchange between China and the West, are distinctive in fusing Eastern and Western art. For instance, chinaware, as the subject of his painting, was one of the popular foreign goods in Paris at the time.
In the painting, lotus flower is expressed in two different ways of presentation. On one hand, the image of lotus flower shown on the carved vase is rendered with stiff brushwork, characterising the design of chinaware at the time. Although lotus leaves in real life are oval in shape, the leaves portrayed on the vase are rather long and thin. On the other hand, the lotus flowers jutting out of the vase are rendered with smooth contour lines, endowing the flowers with a sense of fluidity. As such, it emulates the image of real-life lotus while resonating with the artistic expression of lotus in Chinese painting.
The artist represents the vase and the lotus flowers in a simplistic form with minimal use of lines and colour patches. Regarding painting techniques, while the painting seems to be rendered with arbitrary brushwork, the artistic expression of the lotus is unique to the painterly style of the artist which distinctively captures the spirit of the subject.
The lotus flowers and the white vase stand out and look paler against the background predominantly rendered in black with a greenish tint. As such, the picture is infused with a gloomy feeling, reminiscent of the withering away of life.