Famille-rose Vase with Nine Peaches Design

The vase has a slightly flared mouth, a straight neck, a swelling body and a foot ring. A vigorous peach tree is painted on the exterior with a thick trunk and nine peaches hanging from the branches. Next to it is a China rose. On the foot-ring is a Qianlong reign mark in seal script in blue-and-white.

The famille-rose porcelains of the Qianlong reign were richly ornamented with auspicious natural objects, commonly done in refined brushwork, distinctive arrangement and abundance. This vase uses wash applied by hand from light to dark with rich colors, the peaches, fragile and vivid, are perfectly ripe. The painting’s composition is dense and sparse each balancing the other, producing a picturesque order of dark and light leaves and old and new branches. The vase is a classic of large famille-rose ware in the Qianlong period.

Since the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735), the nine-peaches design was an official ornament which was used as late as the Guangxu period (1875-1908). During the Yongzheng reign, the nine-peaches design was commonly seen on the famille-rose ware such as globular vases, olive-shaped vases and plates are decorated with branches that extend from the outside into the bowl. The famille-rose design of the Yongzheng reign was outstandingly bright and diverse compared to the extant ones of the Qianlong and Guangxu periods, demonstrating the superb painting skills of the Yongzheng period.