19TH C TONGZHI - GUANGXU FAMILLE ROSE FIGURAL VASE

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ca. 1860-90s, latter half of the 19th century
Tongzhi-Guangxu Period, Qing Dynasty
Porcelain with overglaze famille rose enamels
H: 36 cm
From a Greenwich, CT estate

This vase is lavishly painted with a young wife and nine sons in a garden, and flanked with landscape scenes, dragons in relief, and faux cloths.

The number of boys painted–nine in total–symbolizes “eternity” or “everlasting-ness”. Indeed, such image of domestic bliss and abundance encapsulates a Chinese belief in the incorruptible virtue of filial ties, inter-generational continuity, and the home.

This vase is also quite ambitious in form, with its gently ribbed body and folded neck imitating the looked of gathered cloth. This aesthetic movement towards heightened three-dimensional verisimilitude (such as making the vase appear as if wrapped in brocade cloth) began during the late 18th c. Qianlong period, and continued to be practiced into the Republic period.

Condition report: lamp hole professionally filled in to bottom, some fritting to rim. Visible outer body is in perfect condition. [Please examine all photos carefully; they are part of the condition report.]