Saucer-dish, one of a pair (pair with B60P1377)

The color purple, favored by the Qing monarchs, was commonly employed on imperial art and utilitarian wares. This high manganese-and-cobalt glaze was commonly used as one of the overglaze-polychromes or as a monochrome glaze. This piece with light tonality is incised with pomegranate scrolls on the outside, a fruit whose abundance of seeds symbolizes the harvest and fertility. Varied in tonalities from aubergine to lavender, and flambé, the color on the incised lines in this case is intense purple.