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Vase with pheasant and flowers
Vase with pheasant and flowers

Vase with pheasant and flowers

Place of OriginChina
DynastyQing dynasty (1644-1911), Reign of the Kangxi emperor (1662-1722)
MaterialsPorcelain with overglaze polychrome decorations
DimensionsH. 28 in x Diam. 10 in, H. 71.1 cm x Diam. 25.4 cm
Credit LineThe Avery Brundage Collection
Object numberB60P94+
DepartmentChinese Art
ClassificationsCeramics
On View
Not on view
MarkingsA 6-charcater reign mark in standard script in three rows, written with underglaze blue at the base reads: Produced during the Chenghua reign of the great Ming. 大明成化年製
More Information

Vases: Symbols of Peace
The word for "vase" (ping ) has the same sound as the first character of "peace" (ping'an). To present a vase to a friend means to wish him or her peace, which may explain the presence of at least one porcelain vase in most Chinese households. In Chinese iconography the vase may serve as a container for a variety of other symbols, producing many interesting rebuses.

A picture of a vase with flowers from all four seasons is a rebus for "may one enjoy peace in all seasons." Around the New Year, if a vessel is broken, the phrase "peace and safety every year" (suì suì píng an ) is spoken to offset the bad omen, since sui means both to break and year. A vase covered in a swastika design expresses a desire for ten thousand everlasting years of peace.

HIDDEN MEANING: May your noble house be blessed with wealth and honor (yutang fugui).

This vase shows a golden pheasant, a bird of prosperity, surrounded by white magnolia (yulan), crabapple (haitang) and peony (fuguihua). The peony is the flower of wealth and honor. Peonies combined with white magnolias and crabapple blossoms form the auspicious phrase yutang fugui: wealth and rank in the jade hall, a term meaning "wealthy establishment."