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Subject:Re: Any information very gratefully received
Posted By: Bill H Fri, May 01, 2015
These are both fine-looking examples of Chinese Canton famille rose porcelain wares. The blanks for them were produced at the porcelain center of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, and sent south for decoration at Guangzhou, the Pearl River export trade center formerly called Canton, in Guangdong Province.
The lotus-form dish in your first photo is in a principal variant of the Rose Medallion pattern, consisting of four reserves with scroll motive borders surrounding a central medallion circled by a gilt ring. Two of the reserves depict flora (predominantly peonies) and fauna (birds & insects) from a Chinese garden. The other two have genre scenes of Mandarin life, while the medallion features the further garden view of a bird perched on a rock amidst peonies. All of the preceding overlies a ground of tightly scrolling green vines on gilt.
The deeper and apparently larger bowl has reserves featuring genre scenes similar to Rose Medallion but bordered within a gilt geometric design called the "Thunder" (Lei) fret, after Lei Gong, a principal military deity. The other two reserves have scrolling borders surrounded by a profusion of auspicious symbols, including the "Attributes of the Eight Immortals" (of Daoism). The rim of the bowl is richly decorated with butterflies and birds amidst a variety of flowering and fruiting branches, all on a gilt ground.
The foregoing bowl might be referred to as "Rose Mandarin", though in essence it seems linked to Rose Medallion via their similar arrangement of reserves and a central medallion. However, this link may be predictive, since the border on this bowl can be dated as far back as the second quarter of the 19th century, according to the 1982 Peabody (now Peabody Essex) Museum catalog study by Dr. John Quentin Feller of Canton Famille Rose Porcelains in the Alma Cleveland Porter Collection. Of course, the border almost certainly continued to be used awhile after 1850.
The Rose medallion pattern variant, as well as its decorative quality as seen on your lotus-form dish, dates it to around the late third to early fourth quarter of the 19th century, circa 1860-1880, in my opinion. This variant of the pattern continued in production, though quality declined after 1875, per Feller's research and my experience as a collector of Rose Medallion.
Your lotus dish is one of a number of Rose Medallion pattern variants, the earliest being the one shown below with melon-shaped reserves, which was in production by the 1850's.
Best regards,
Bill H.
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