BF56
Further images
Comprising five pieces; three baluster vases with domed covers and two flared beaker vases; each richly enameled in the famille rose palette, the bodies decorated with two colourful cockerels, one strutting on stylised rockwork looking down at the other cockerel below, the other cockerel standing below towering peony and prunus branches, surrounded by blossoming branches, all beneath a collar of pomegranate-shaped cartouches with floral sprays reserved against a pink ground, the covers with knop finial painted with further peony sprays, the bases glazed.
Literature
Footnote: When found on Chinese porcelain, a design of two cockerels among rockwork and peony is associated with success in official examinations and rising in wealth and rank. The imagery was particularly popular on famille rose wares of the Yongzheng and early Qianlong period. The bright feathers of the birds and the petals of the peonies were perfect for showcasing the new enamelling technique.
A similar garniture is illustrated by Williamson and Tuttle in 'The Book of Famille Rose', 1970, plate LIII. For further similar examples see Gulland, Chinese Porcelain, 1902, numbers 809 and 810, p. 462. Also see D.S. Howard, The Choice of the Private Trader, London, 1994, p. 242, no. 286.
