Chinese famille rose cockerel plate, Yongzheng (1723-35)

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Description

Chinese famille rose cockerel plate, Yongzheng (1723-35), decorated to the centre with a cockerel and two chicks beside a wall with flowering peony and prunus, the wide rim with pomegranate-shaped cartouches containing alternating lotus and peony heads with iron red scrolls, against a pink cell ground with curling foliage, the reverse with four florets in iron red.

Diameter: 22.8cm. (9in.)

Condition:

One hairline to rim, star crack to centre

Notes:
The tenth animal of the zodiac, roosters have featured in Chinese art for millennia. The first references to the zodiac in China date from the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE- 9 CE), and tomb figurines of roosters, believed to keep evil spirits at bay as well as serving as an offering to sustain the deceased in the afterlife, have been found across China. Over time, the rooster became an important symbol associated with the New Year, and images of roosters were often pasted onto doors on the first day of the lunar New Year to protect the household – a tradition which continues today in many parts of China. The association of roosters with good fortune stems from a homonym: chicken (ji) or rooster (gonji) serves as a visual pun on luck (ji).

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Product REF: W262