Dehua Flourishing Garden Floral Relief Porcelain Vase

Peonies gather at the foot of the vase while a dark plum branch climbs the tall, straight-neck body; a small orchid completes the composition. The relief is built from separate ceramic petals and leaves, so the design changes as the vase is viewed from the side rather than reading like a flat painted scene.

The three flowers carry distinct associations in Chinese decorative culture. Peony is linked with prosperity, plum blossom with endurance through winter, and orchid with refined character. Here they are combined as a garden in upward movement, true to the Chinese title Xin Xin Xiang Rong, a phrase for flourishing growth.

Dehua is widely known for white porcelain, but color also belongs to its history: the British Museum holds a seventeenth-century Dehua vase with polychrome peony decoration. This contemporary work continues that less familiar colored tradition through hand-modeled floral relief on a high-fired porcelain body.

Its garden rises through three dimensions. Petals cast real shadows, the plum branch changes the silhouette, and each flower carries a different wish. At 40 cm high, the vase has the presence to stand alone on a console while still rewarding close inspection from the side.

• Origin: Dehua, Fujian, China
• Material: High-fired porcelain
• Craft: Hand-modeled and applied floral relief; the product material records firing at 1,380°C / 2,516°F
• Motifs: Peony, plum blossom and orchid
• Overall dimensions with stand: 40.0 cm H × 20.5 cm W × 20.5 cm D / 15.7 in H × 8.1 in W × 8.1 in D
• Included: Porcelain vase and fitted black display stand
• Handling: Lift from the undecorated body rather than the projecting petals and branches