Covered bowl in fen-ts’ai enamels with decoration of ‘long life’ symbols, T’ung-chih reign (1861-1875), Ch’ing dynasty

Covered bowl in fen-ts’ai enamels with decoration of ‘long life’ symbols, T’ung-chih reign (1861-1875), Ch’ing dynasty

• Image Number: K1B004667N000000000PAB
• Dynasty: Qing dynasty
• Category: Ceramics
• Function: Container
• Material: Minerals/Ceramics/
• Description:
  Low mouth, deep arc wall, short round foot, with round foot cover. The white ground inside the bowl is painted with pastel plum blossoms and butterflies, the inner and outer edges of the ware and lid, the bottom edge and the foot circles are all painted with a pattern, and the outer walls of the bowl and lid are decorated with four round patterns on the yellow ground. The words “Wan”, “Shou”, “Wu” and “Jiang” are written inside the 10000 characters, and are surrounded by Ruyi cloud patterns; The lighting room is decorated with bat, peach fruit, dish intestine and other patterns, symbolizing eternal life. “Changchun Tongqing” four character two line regular script is printed on the inside of the ring foot and the bottom of the bowl in vermilion. The “Changchun Tongqing” tea ware was made during Tongzhi’s reign. This covered bowl was used for drinking tea. It was designed without any support. The patterns were all longevity and auspicious. It may be used by Empress Dowager Cixi as a tea ware.