In the world of porcelain in Jingdezhen, famille rose is like a brilliant pearl. With its unique charm of rich colors and elegant beauty, it is known as one of the "Four Famous Porcelains in Jingdezhen" along with blue and white porcelain, colored glaze porcelain and linglong porcelain. Today, Tongxin She Teahouse recommends a beautiful hand-painted "famille rose butterfly-patterned covered bowl". This covered bowl has a diameter of 9cm, a height of 7.5cm and a full capacity of 120cc. In terms of craftsmanship, it adopts famille rose and gold painting techniques, fully demonstrating extraordinary ingenuity.
The history of famille rose porcelain is long and has a long pedigree. It was created during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. At that time, Jingdezhen began to explore the firing of famille rose porcelain on the basis of enamel porcelain. In the early days of the Kangxi period, famille rose porcelain was relatively rough. Only carmine red was used in the red flowers, and other colors mostly continued to use the production methods of five-color porcelain. There were mainly two varieties at that time: one was white-ground famille rose ware; the other was green, yellow and purple tricolor porcelain with carmine red (gold red) added. By the time of Emperor Yongzheng, famille rose porcelain achieved a huge leap on the basis of that in the Kangxi period and then became the mainstream of colored porcelain in Jingdezhen, with its craftsmanship and artistic expression reaching new heights.
The inner wall of this covered bowl is plain, smooth and moist to the touch, providing a pure background for the tea soup when tasting tea. The outer wall is carefully decorated with butterfly patterns in groups by using the traditional famille rose craftsmanship. The colorful butterflies are dancing gracefully, with rich and distinct layers, giving a fresh and elegant feeling. The lid and saucer of the cup are also embellished with butterfly patterns, echoing the patterns on the outer wall up and down, coordinated and regular, making the overall shape just like a fine work of art.
Butterflies contain many beautiful meanings in traditional Chinese culture. With their graceful postures and choosing only one partner in their lifetime, they are the embodiments of beauty and love, often inspiring people and making them yearn for something. In traditional Chinese literature, pairs of flying butterflies are symbols of free love, expressing people's passionate pursuit of free love. And the combination of butterflies and flowers symbolizes sweet love and a happy marriage. In addition, the Chinese pronunciation of "butterfly" is homophonic with "good fortune coming one after another" in Chinese, symbolizing good health and longevity as well as continuous happiness. Nowadays, the combination of butterflies and flowers has been endowed with more wishes for a beautiful life, meaning sweet love and prosperity.
This famille rose covered bowl with butterfly patterns has a pure white and delicate body, a smooth and clean glaze, rich and soft colors, and the butterflies in the patterns are vivid and lifelike. Whether it is used for tasting tea and feeling the fragrance of tea spreading in the mouth, or as an object for appreciation, quietly observing its exquisite craftsmanship and wonderful patterns, it can be regarded as an excellent choice.
Perhaps the poetry of life is hidden in a cup of tea soup. In these days when the wind and snow are gradually getting heavier, you might as well pick up this famille rose covered bowl with butterfly patterns, allowing your heart to find a moment of peace and warmth away from the mediocrity of the earthly world under the company of the fragrance of tea and the dancing butterflies.