Cleveland Museum of Art

Bottle-Shaped Vase

Date

1796–1820

Medium

Porcelain, overglaze colors and gold

Culture

China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Jiaqing reign (1796–1820)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This vase is densely decorated with peonies, morning glories, lilies, and lotuses. Purple, yellow, and blue petals fill the surface, forming a continuous millefleur (thousand-flower) pattern. Each petal is delicately shaded to suggest volume and depth, creating a vivid yet orderly composition. The mouth is painted with gold pigment to imitate metal, evoking the appearance of copper-body-painted enamel as seen in Qing dynasty court art. Qing palace records indicate that vases with such patterns were used in everyday flower-viewing displays. In late Qing inventories, comparable examples were listed as furnishings for the emperor and his consorts. Porcelain with this dense floral millefleurs decoration and a multitude of overglaze enamel colors was first made in the Qing dynasty and remained popular into the late 1800s.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.