Decorated in famille rose enamels, with shrews on peony branches, surrounded by fruiting vine, within a dense and elaborate border.
Decorated in famille rose enamels, with shrews on peony branches, surrounded by fruiting vine, within a dense and elaborate border.
For a set of six plates, see Cohen & Cohen, London, Games of Bowls, 2014, p. 104, no. 74.
The use of the shrew with the fruit is linked to a rebus connected to the wish for many offspring to continue the family. The rat (or squirrel/shrew) is shu in Chinese and when gathering fruit, symbolises industry, the trailing vine with seeds represents a long family lineage.
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