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A very beautiful K’ang Hsi period gilt bronze mounted famille-verte porcelain bowl, the oval body with gadrooned rim ornamented with a central medallion decorated with birds, blossom trees and rocks, decorated with birds with wings raised amid cherry tree boughs, chrysanthemums, peony and aquatic plants, the border frieze with geometric motifs alternating with medallions decorated with carp motifs, the exterior decorated with two bands, one with flowers, the other with cartouches of crustacea and carps on a ground of geometric motifs, with gilt bronze acanthus leaf shaped handles, the foot with two pierced holes
Almost certainly made at Ching-tê-chên and enamelled at Canton, Qing dynasty, K’ang Hsi period (1662-1722)
Width 53.5 cm.
Because of civil unrest during the early years of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), China’s production of porcelain was largely interrupted and it was not until about 1680 that the once thriving European export trade was restored. In the intervening years the newly established Japanese porcelain industry, which was encouraged by the Dutch East India Company, made up for the shortfall in supply. At first the Dutch wanted Chinese-style blue and white, but gradually the native ‘brocaded’ Kakiemon-type wares assumed popularity, which presented the Chinese with a new challenge. The result was the brilliant famille-verte (meaning green family) porcelain, which was developed during the reign of Emperor K’ang Hsi (1662-1722). The palette takes its name from the variety of clear greens which are characteristic of its style The almost pure white porcelain body was decorated with enamelled iron-red, manganese-purple and antimony-yellow birds, fish, mythical beasts, figures, flowers and precious objects and then finished with a thin glassy green overglazed enamel. The majority of the enamels appeared to be transparent, and slightly flowed when fired. The exceptions were the overglaze iron red enamel and the under-enamel black, both of which were opaque and did not flow. Gold was often used to highlight the designs on famille-verte decorated porcelains. During the K’ang Hsi period many famille-verte pieces were decorated with petal or leaf-shaped reserves, which often enclosed various themes. Towards the end of Emperor K’ang Hsi’s reign an entirely new palette, known as famille-rose (pink or rose family) was introduced. Here the colours, dominated by a rose-pink introduced from Europe, were mixed with white to achieve an opaque or semi-opaque effect. This lighter, somewhat frivolous colour scheme was put to good effect on new designs that were much smaller in scale. Famille-verte and rose (as well as famille-jaune and noire) porcelain pieces were nearly all destined for the European export market. The classification into families was a later invention, coined during the nineteenth century by the French writer, A. Jacquemart.
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