Dish thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 145

Dish

Dish
1723-1735 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Like most decoration on eighteenth- and nineteenth- century Chinese porcelain, the design on this very large dish is charged with auspicious symbolism, the peach being a symbol of long life. The painting is of exceptional quality, with very fine linear treatment and detailing: the style and overall composition emulate court flower painting on silk.

The colour scheme used by the painter is known in the West as 'famille rose' (literally 'pink family'), because of the prominence of the pink enamel. This was one of several terms coined in the 1870s, when Chinese Qing dynasty enamelled wares were all the rage in Europe and they were claaified according to their predominant colours, the other main categories being 'famille verte', 'famille jaune' and 'famille noire'.

'Famille verte' ('green family') was the earliest and most common of these four 'families'. All the coloured enamels used - mostly green but sometimes also blue, red, yellow and aubergine - are transparent. The pink enamel and the opaque yellow, seen on this 'famille rose' dish, appeared in the 1720s, at the least. A relatively large number of Jesuit missionaries served at the imperial workshops at the time that this colour was developed and it has been suggested that they introduced the method for achieving a pink enamel to Chinese craftsmen, but this has yet to be proved.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleDish (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Porcelain painted in coloured enamels
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 50.8cm
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
'da qing Yongzheng nian zhi' written in cobalt blue on base
Gallery label
Dish with peaches China, Jingdezhen Yongzheng reign (1723–35) The decoration recalls delicate Chinese court paintings of flowers on silk. The pink enamel common to Chinese porcelains in this period first appeared in China around 1720, but had long been known in Europe. The technology for this difficult colour may have been introduced by Jesuit missionaries at the imperial workshops. Porcelain, painted in enamels Museum no. 719-1907 Dr Henry Couling Bequest(September 2009)
Credit line
Dr Henry Couling Bequest
Object history
Bequeathed by Mr. Henry Couling, accessioned in 1907. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Like most decoration on eighteenth- and nineteenth- century Chinese porcelain, the design on this very large dish is charged with auspicious symbolism, the peach being a symbol of long life. The painting is of exceptional quality, with very fine linear treatment and detailing: the style and overall composition emulate court flower painting on silk.

The colour scheme used by the painter is known in the West as 'famille rose' (literally 'pink family'), because of the prominence of the pink enamel. This was one of several terms coined in the 1870s, when Chinese Qing dynasty enamelled wares were all the rage in Europe and they were claaified according to their predominant colours, the other main categories being 'famille verte', 'famille jaune' and 'famille noire'.

'Famille verte' ('green family') was the earliest and most common of these four 'families'. All the coloured enamels used - mostly green but sometimes also blue, red, yellow and aubergine - are transparent. The pink enamel and the opaque yellow, seen on this 'famille rose' dish, appeared in the 1720s, at the least. A relatively large number of Jesuit missionaries served at the imperial workshops at the time that this colour was developed and it has been suggested that they introduced the method for achieving a pink enamel to Chinese craftsmen, but this has yet to be proved.
Bibliographic reference
Liefkes, Reino and Hilary Young (eds.) Masterpieces of World Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publishing, 2008, pp. 93.
Collection
Accession number
719-1907

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Record createdSeptember 21, 2006
Record URL
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