Such elegant vases appear to have been made in very restricted numbers, suggesting that they may have been part of a special commission. Likewise, the similarity of subject matter, fine execution, and color palette, may further suggest that they were made at the same workshop. It seems likely that such pieces would have been produced around 1720-22, when a comparable palette of iron red, famille verte and gilt can be found on armorial porcelain, and before the limited introduction of famille rose details on armorial porcelain began in 1723-24.

Such costly vases appealed to the very highest level of European society in the 18th century: see, for example, two vases in the Porzellansummlung of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, illustrated by E. Ströber, 'La maladie de porcelaine...' East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of Augustus the Strong, Berlin, 2001, no. 33, pp. 80-81, where the author notes that "These splendid and extremely rare vases are among the most superior porcelains of the Kangxi period… as a result of the plentiful use of gold, the garden setting, the furniture and the plants exuded a highly refined palace atmosphere". Another similar vase in the Chinese Museum at Fontainebleau, established by Empress Eugénie in 1863, is shown in the opulent room known as "le Musée Chinois", illustrated by C. Samoyault-Verlet, Le Musée chinois de L'impératrice Eugénie, 1994, pp. 24-25, fig. 17. 

Vases, Jingdezhen, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi period (1662-1722), ca. 1700-1720. Porcelain, underglaze cobalt blue, enamelled and gold; Left: height: 71,5 cm, right: H. 71,9 cm. Porzellansummlung of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, PO 6259, PO 6258 © SKD. Photo: Adrian Sauer

However, the aristocratic appeal of such vases appears to have been intended not only for the export market, but perhaps even primarily for the Chinese domestic market, whose appreciation of the symbolism of the vases would have been so much deeper. The scenes typically present an idealized family presented in a happy and relaxed domestic environment, blessed with auspicious details such as the crane and the lotus which confirm the moral rectitude of the household. The family members appear well-structured along Confucian principles: the pater familias sits in a central position, two women are contentedly displaying their educational attainments through their prowess at weiqi, while a third takes a supervisory position overlooking the boys playing, including one older boy caring for his sobbing younger brother. On many of these types of vases, the boys are playing popular games such as catching a helmet or riding a toy horse, and the present example appears to be particularly unusual in depicting a group of boys in a display of complex acrobatics. 

A series of six similar rouleau vases (including one also decorated with underglaze blue) from the collection of J. T. Tai, sold at Sotheby’s New York, Informing the Eye of the Collector: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art from J. T. Tai & Co., 22 March 2011, lots 100-103.