Plate
Author: Unknown
Origin: China
Dating: c.1730-1745 (Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period)
Material: Porcelain
Dimensions (cm): Ø 61,7
Inv. no.: PD0471
One of two plates – from the “famille-rose” – of dense and heavy porcelain with black enamel. The decoration consists of arabesques and foliage in tones of green, framing six large pink and white peonies, arranged in a crown shape; marigolds; multi-coloured butterflies and several peonies in tones of iron red, blue, yellow and white. The embellishments seem from the Yongzheng period (1723-1735).
Since the Tang dynasty (618-907), peonies have been essential in the Chinese naturalistic decorative repertoire, as symbols of spring, wealth and prosperity. Since the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), the combination of flowers and insects has become a recurrent theme in the pictorial decoration of Chinese porcelain.
