The bell-shaped teapot decorated in the famille verte palette, with two panels painted on each side of the teapot, the first with branches of prunus, and the second with blossoming peonies, both of them surrounded by butterflies. The upright handle simulating wrapped rattan.
A Chinese famille verte bell-shaped teapot. Kangxi
COUNTRY : China
PERIOD : Kangxi (166-1722)
MATIERIAL : Porcelain
SIZE : 6.69 in. (17 cm)
REFERENCE : E262
STATUT : available
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Further information
‘Top’ or ‘over’ handles, such as the one on this teapot, assumed their basic form from Chinese wine pots and were common during this period. By 1710, however, they were becoming less prevalent due to their impracticality in the preparation of tea. The overhandle is painted to resemble wrapped rattan.
Butterflies were a favoured choice in the Chinese decorative art repertoire, since they provide a rebus which doubles any good wish and also suggest a seventy or eightieth birthday. The combination of butterfly and peony on one side provides the pun for fudie fugui, ‘May you have an accumulation of blessings, wealth and high social status’.
