Chinese vase, Famille Rose (Fencai) Meiping, With mille fleur pattern and dragon

Chinese vase
Famille Rose (Fencai) Meiping
With mille fleur pattern and dragon
China, end of Qing dynasty to beginning republic, beginning of 20th century
Height 20 cm

Vase with blue speckled ("azurnem") dragon in front of area-filling floral decor, ornamental borders on top and bottom, gilt foot, apocryphal Qianlong six-character mark in underglaze blue seal script.
The "Thousand Flowers Pattern," on which "all the flowers offer their floral splendor," is a creation of the late Yongzheng period, the first half of the 1730s, becomes extremely popular during the subsequent Qianlong period, and remains popular, albeit in smaller numbers, into the 20th century in use. In addition to the arrangement of the flowers without a gold or black background, the blue dragon here, symbolizing the dragon god 青龍 Qīnglong, representing the east and spring, provides an interesting clue for dating: it bears no claws. During the Qing Dynasty, the number of claws on the imperial dragon gave an indication of the owner's rank; for example, five-clawed dragons were reserved for the emperor. At the same time, the Azure Dragon in its imperial variant also adorned the first Chinese national flag of the Empire since 1862. Its ornamental interpretation, deliberately omitting the claws, suggests here a piece from the end of the Qing period, as it were a patriotic symbol without the imperial connotation still taboo for private use. The use of the apocryphal Qianlon mark, which had become increasingly popular for private and export pieces since the second half of the 19th century, fits in with this, and can also be understood as a wistful homage to the former heyday of the Qing reign.