Canton Rose Family style dish. China, 19th century.
Hand-painted porcelain.
Measurements: 24.5 cm (diameter).
Porcelain dish with polychrome decoration in the Cantonese Rose Family style, characterised by the use of opaque white enamel and by the predominance of light and very luminous tones, especially pink and green. This style is typical of ceramics exported to Europe, developed mainly during the second half of the 19th century. It is an ornate and highly ornamental style, usually decorated with figurative scenes, and mainly characterised by the use of a broader palette than that of the normal Rose Family, dominated by light and bright shades, mainly pinks and greens. Thanks to the discovery of the white glaze at the end of the Kangxi period (first half of the 18th century), Chinese potters broadened the palette, achieving new tonal ranges that allowed them to conform more closely to European tastes, even achieving gradations of colour. Moreover, as can be seen here, these pieces are often enriched with gilt details, very much in keeping with Western tastes. Within the Canton Rose Family there are three styles: pink medallion, nonya or straits. There is also the Mandarin style, which emerged in 1820, and is characterised by its decorations with typically Chinese figures, dressed in the traditional manner, set in domestic or courtly settings, captured with detail and narrative. The pictorial decoration is arranged in cartouches on a background of flowers and insects, typical of 19th-century Chinese export porcelain. There are also cartouches with compositions of flowers and insects on a white background.