Height with frame: 16 inches, 40.5 cm
Width with frame: 11 inches, 28 cm

Pair of famille rose porcelain plaques with birds on trees

People’s Republic of China, dated 1988

Two porcelain plaques of rectangular format, both showing birds on branches in delicate famille rose enamels on a white ground. One plaque shows a magpie-like bird, sitting on branches of bamboo. A red-leafed tree is growing beside it.  An inscription in Chinese characters on the right reads: zhu ying qing feng (tender wind moves the shadow of the bamboo). There are eleven further smaller characters as follows: wu chen zhong xia liu yu cen hua yu zhu shan (painted at Zhushan in the summer of Wuchen year). The other plaque shows a long-tailed bird sitting on a gnarled branch of a flowering prunus tree.  An inscription in Chinese characters on the left reads: mei bao ping an (the plum is sending safe blessing). There are eleven further smaller characters as follows, wu chen zhong xia liu yu cen hua yu zhu shan (painted at Zhushan in the summer of Wuchen year). The inscription ends with a red seal, reading “zhi” (this).

According to Terese Bartholomew, a ribbon-tailed bird (shoudaniao) depicted with plum blossoms (mei), represents the wish ‘May you enjoy longevity in the spring’.1

  1. Tse Bartholomew, T. Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 2006, 7.51.12. p. 218