Dish. Porcelain painted in polychrome enamels of the famille rose type, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign, ca. 1730. Diameter: 34.3 cm. CIRC.684-1931. © V&A Images

Porcelain dish painted in polychrome enamels of the famille rose colour scheme with branches of peonies and chrysanthemums that run over the side of the dish and on the back; an inscription in ink on the base.

This porcelain dish was made in the Jingdezhen kilns of southern China during the reign of the Yongzheng emperor (1723-35). By this time, the potters already mastered the use of the pink enamel, which was introduced in the colour palette used for decorating porcelain, glass and enamelled metals in about 1720. Due to the predominance of pink, this kind of porcelain was called 'famille rose' by European collectors of the mid 1800s.

The inscription in ink on the base reading 'N=176 I' shows that the dish was part of the Dresden collection of Frederick Augustus I of Saxony or 'August the Strong', who died in 1733.