18TH CENTURY

This unusually large and handsome vase is skilfully decorated in underglaze cobalt blue and copper red.  The copper red has been well controlled and appears as a soft raspberry colour, which is particularly effective for the depiction of the plum blossoms.  The painting style is unusually bold and painterly.  The gnarled tree trunk is painted in vivid blue with textures sharply differentiated by varying depths of colour.  The trunk twists and turns in such a way as to encourage visual comparison with a turbulent spring river – its flow quickened by added water from melting ice.   This reminder of spring is in keeping with the plum blossoms, which in China were always regarded as a harbinger of spring.  The roundness and delicacy of the blossoms is in pleasing contrast to angularity and dense colour of the trunk of the tree.
This vase has no minor bands, and the section of blossoming plum covers the whole of the body of the vessel.  The style and layout of the decoration is reminiscent of that seen on scroll paintings, although in the case of the vase the design has been ingeniously adjusted to accommodate the vase’s curved surface.  The effect is both artistic and powerful.