Enamel Tea Cup with Flowers, Grasses and Auspicious Fu Patterns

This enamel-decorated tea cup with flowers, grasses and auspicious bats is collaboratively crafted by Master Zhang Jian, a master artisan of Jingdezhen overglaze decoration and piled‑gold technique, together with several other master craftsmen. The porcelain painting features lines as fine as silk hair, of extraordinary delicacy.

Bats painted in iron-red on the outer wall are traditional auspicious patterns, symbolizing boundless blessings.

The bat pattern, also known as the “auspicious fortune pattern”, is regarded in Confucianism as an auspicious omen of divine will, such as the appearance of colorful clouds, favorable weather for crops, double-eared grains, sweet springs from the earth, and the emergence of rare birds and exotic animals. The pink-green glaze has an elegant, soft green hue with a gentle, muted luster.

The exterior is decorated with enamel-painted scrolling patterns, with clear veins and gracefully twining branches and leaves, full of dynamism. Its continuous structure stands for endless vitality.

The bat pattern paired with the scrolling pattern signifies endless good fortune and blessings.

In the Qing Dynasty, enamel porcelain was originally made exclusively for the appreciation of emperors and empresses. Enamel is a special colored pigment produced through artificial firing. Before the 6th year of the Yongzheng reign (1728), enamel materials relied on imports from Europe. After that period, the Imperial Workshop of the Qing Court successfully developed more than 20 kinds of enamel pigments, marking the pinnacle of ancient Chinese polychrome porcelain craftsmanship.