Plate - Porcelain - Famille rose enamel ware with a pheasant design, Yongzheng period.

Painted plate in the famille rose enamels with a pheasant motif in Chinese porcelain from the Yongzheng period.

On a rock where Chinese peonies grow and bloom, magnificent flowers forming spheres of 10 to 25 cm in diameter, a pheasant faces another bird. The pheasant is one of the symbols of officials in imperial service. It is associated with the peony to evoke spring in the decorative motif of “Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons” (siji huaniao tu). This pheasant-and-peonies design, taken alone, was very popular at the beginning and end of the 18th century in domestic and export ceramics.

The decoration is applied on glost glaze, that is, after an initial firing of the porcelain covered with a transparent glaze. It is during a second firing, called a “petit feu” (800°), that the colors are fixed. This type of decoration appears under the reign of Emperor Yongzheng (1723-1736) and develops under Emperor Qianlong (1736-1796). Its birth is closely linked to the history of exchanges between East and West in the 17th and 18th centuries. Indeed, it was a Dutch chemist named Andreas Cassius who discovered in 1650 the chemical formula enabling pink enamels: the mineral purple, later called the “Cassius purple,” precipitated from gold salt. China quickly obtained this formula—the purple became the “foreign color”—and then used the pink tones for porcelains destined for the domestic market but especially for export products.

Characteristics:

Era: 18th century - (1723-1735)

diameter 23 cm x height 2 cm

Condition: a minuscule flaw (1 mm) on the wing, otherwise excellent condition

Please note that these collectible pieces, witnesses to history, may show subtle signs of wear. Any significant details are faithfully illustrated in the photos provided.

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