Miniature square vase

This is a miniature square vase with a smaller square gilt mouthrim, slanting shoulders and a small square concave base. It is mainly decorated with famille rose* floral sprays such as plum blossoms, chrysanthemums, Chinese roses, etc. on a white background. The plum blossom, one of the sui han san you (Three Friends of Winter, namely pine, bamboo and plum, which still keep their integrity when all other plants wither and their leaves fall), is important to the Chinese as a symbol of longevity and good fortune. The chrysanthemum is a symbol of autumn and of fortitude; it blossoms in the fall despite the onslaught of frost and icy winds. It is also known as the hermit of flowers because of its association with Tao Qian (style name yuanming), a fourth-century poet-recluse who resigned his official post and retired to his small farm to write poetry. A number of his poems are about the chrysanthemum. The Chinese rose symbolizes youth and the four seasons. On the bottom of the square concave base there is an inscribed two-column shen de tang (Made in the Hall of Cultivating Virtue) in iron red and standard script on a white glazed background. A red stamp CHINA is below the mark. Shen de tang (Hall of Cultivating Virtue), which refers to a hall once located in the Yuan Ming Yuan* (Old Summer Palace, now destroyed) in Beijing, is a hallmark for the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynasty (1821-1850) that was frequently seen on wares made in Jingdezhen during his reign. According to the historical records, the Daoguang emperor actually died in the shen de tang. The shen de tang mark is usually in iron red, and sometimes in gold. Its most treasured form is that of the singular vertical column. Wares with such a mark are primarily illustrated with floral sprays, and those with painted gold decorations against the iron red background are highly prized. The mark on this miniature square vase is obviously a copy of the Daoguang models because there is a red stamp below it. As requested by the United States Law (U.S. Stamp Act of 1892), any exported wares to the United States from 1891 were required to be so marked. It is evident that this is an object specially designed for foreign trade. Thus, this object should be dated to approximately the late 19th century. * Famille rose (fen cai) refers to a palette developed in the same basis of the famille verte palette (kang xi wu cai) of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty and which was under the direct influence of the enamel decoration ware. In the last years of the Kangxi reign, foreign rouge-red enamel was used to color flower petals. This started the trend toward a new palette (known in the West as famille rose) during the succeeding Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns. The famille rose is characteristically used in this way: glassy white (bo li bai) in which an opaque white enamel (lead arsenate) is employed as the base for coloring garments or flower petals; also, rue oil is used as the drying oil in mixing some pigments. Many enamels of the palette include certain imported materials, such foreign red, foreign yellow, foreign green, and foreign white. Compared with the famille verte, the new palette fires at a lower temperature and has a wider color range. It also appears softer and gentler, hence its other name 'soft colors' (ruan cai). During the Yongzheng reign, famille rose wares reached their zenith, replacing the famille verte of the Kangxi reign and becoming the dominate palette in overglaze decoration. The decoration was painted not only on a white background, but also on such colored backgrounds as coral, red, light green, caramel, black, etc. During the Qianlong reign, new techniques continued to develop. As a departure from the earlier simple washing method, flower petals in rouge red were outlined. More colors began to appear as the background. The designs also grew increasingly complex, especially in the case of wares with a red or green phoenix tail design as the background (feng wei wen), which was fashionable in the late Qianlong and early Jiaqing period. As this new decorative technique used many imported materials, and it method of mixing pigments was also 'foreign', it acquired the name 'foreign colors' (yang cai) in the Qianlong reign. * The Yuan Ming Yuan (Old Summer Palace) was laid out by the Yongzheng emperor, enlarged in European style by Jesuits in the 1740s, and sacked and burned by the British and French Allied Force in 1860