The underglaze blue decoration on this bowl dates it to the 1640s. A potted peony bush symbolizing spring, love, and feminine beauty is depicted on the interior's bottom. On the inner wall are six panels containing stylized peach branches. The peach is believed to ward off evil and represents springtime, marriage, and immortality.

In 1683, Cang Yingxuan became head of the Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen. Under his leadership, exceptional enameled pieces like this vase were produced. Those decorated with a predominantly green palette are called famille verte. The Chinese called such pieces yingcai, which means "hard colors." 

During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, ribbed wall fountains with matching domed covers such as this, along with their accompanying oval basins, were made and decorated by the hundreds at Jingdezhen (Ching-tê Chên), China.

During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, ribbed wall fountains with matching domed covers such as this, along with their accompanying oval basins, were made and decorated by the hundreds at Jingdezhen (Ching-tê Chên), China.

In the late 17th century, aristocratic European taste moved away from imported blue and white porcelains, and people were willing to pay more for the polychrome enamels exported to Jingdezhen.

This portrait is a memorial to Philip Evergood's mother, Flora, who died on March 10, 1927, shortly after her son began this portrait. As he later remembered, "My mother was dying of cancer in a little room on Lexington Avenue.