Jingdezhen Qianlong-Style Underglaze Red Garden Yuhuchun Vase

Underglaze red gives this Yuhuchun vase its structure before it gives it color. Fine red lines trace bamboo, plantain leaves, garden rocks and a low balustrade across a white porcelain ground, while bands of leaf, scroll and lappet ornament frame the scene at the neck and foot.

The form carries a longer history. The Palace Museum traces the Yuhuchun silhouette from its early use as a wine vessel to its later place among display porcelain, and its collection includes Yuan-period Jingdezhen Yuhuchun vases decorated in underglaze red. Here, that historic pairing of form and copper-red technique opens into a contemporary scholar's garden of bamboo, plantain, rocks, and balustrade.

Bamboo brings associations of integrity and resilience, while the garden setting gives the vase the atmosphere of a cultivated retreat. At 32 cm high, it has enough scale for a cabinet, sideboard, or study console, where the continuous hand-painted scene can be followed around the pear-shaped body. A decorative Qianlong-style six-character reign mark and fitted wooden stand complete the display.

• Material: Jingdezhen porcelain
• Origin: Jingdezhen, China
• Form: Yuhuchun vase with a flared mouth, slender neck and pear-shaped body
• Craft: Hand-painted underglaze red
• Motif: Bamboo, plantain leaves, garden rocks, balustrade and ornamental borders
• Height: 32 cm / 12.6 in
• Mouth diameter: 10 cm / 3.9 in
• Body diameter: 21 cm / 8.3 in
• Base diameter: 12 cm / 4.7 in
• Base mark: Decorative Qianlong-style six-character reign mark
• Use: Water arrangements or standalone display
• Included: One porcelain vase and one fitted wooden display stand
• Date: Contemporary