An important, fine quality, and rare Kangxi polychrome porcelain vase, with dated imperial hall mark “Kangxi Shin Hai Zhong He Tang Zhi” (made for the Hall of Mddle and Peace during the year of Shin Hai (1671 AD)). This imperial hall mark is rare. A porcelain plate with the same hall mark that is almost identically written is reported by a National Palace Museum (Taipei) expert Tong Yi Hua (see p.69 of Marks of Ceramics Throughout the Dynasties of China, 1984) The importance of this vase is that it started a new era of porcelain decoration that uses overglaze cobalt blue enamel, instead of traditional underglaze blue, and the use of extensive and elaborated brush painting on porcelain. Before this era Chinese polychrome porcelain painting was simpler and used underglaze blue, as exemplified by porcelain of Jiajing and Wanli. The mouth rim is decorated by a band of down-pointing red triangles and up-pointing green triangles, a typical motif of Kangxi porcelain. The neck has two square medallions with artistically painted mountain-and-lake scenery, again very typical for Kangxi era. The shoulder is decorated with a band comprising turtle-shell or benzene-ring like units with four chrysanthemum flowers in iron red symmetrically located among the units, again, typical motif of Kangxi era. The main body is decorated with two large square medallions containing birds, rocks, blossoming peony and chrysanthemum branches, all these being very typical Kangxi motifs. (See for example the Kangxi vase with polychrome painting of birds, rocks, and peony, p.87, Chinese Ceramics, Ching Dynasty, ISBN 957-9500-00-2) The high foot has two leaf-shape medallions, containing deer, pine trees and rocks in open fields. These are very typical for Kangxi porcelain, especially the leaf-shape medallions, which strongly identified this vase as made during Kangxi reign, because this shape medallion hardly appears in later porcelain. Additional features that identify the origin of this vase beyond doubt are the cutting and shaping of the foot rim and the twin cleanly cut glaze-body interface lines. This kind of foot rim cutting to form the base is called double-layer base (see Gen Bao Chan’s Identification of Ming and Qing Porcelain, fig.80) The quality of the clay, the glaze, the enamels, and the workmanship are outstanding and are consistent with early Kangxi imperial porcelain. All these features make this vase highly valuable not just for serious collectors but also for leading museums.