Dayazhai Enamel-Painted Blue and White Floral Pattern Cup

Enameled Blue and White Floral Pattern Cup

The enamel-painted underglaze blue floral cup was created through the collaboration of several masters, including Zhang Jian, a master of overglaze enamel and gold-painting techniques in Jingdezhen.

Inner blue and white porcelain:
Blue and white porcelain is one of the decorative techniques for porcelain and a way to combine enamel colors.

Floral scroll pattern:

The exterior is decorated with enamel-painted scrolling floral patterns, including scrolling peonies, lotuses, and chrysanthemums. Because the scrolls are continuous and seemingly endless, they are called "flowers of longevity." The scrolling lotus branches and leaves are graceful and dynamic, with vibrant colors and gold-painted string patterns. Due to their continuous structure, they symbolize "endless life," hence the scrolling pattern is also known as "longevity vine."
Southern Dynasties celadon water droppers were already decorated with intertwined floral patterns, which were widely used on porcelain during the Song and Yuan Dynasties and later.

Enamel:
Besides the intricate and delicate painting process, the enamel-painted blue-and-white floral cup requires five firings in the kiln to complete, each with its own risks.
Enamelware from the Qing Dynasty was originally intended for the enjoyment of emperors and empresses. Enamel is a special type of artificially fired pigment. Before the sixth year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign (1728), it had to be imported from Europe. After the sixth year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, the Qing Palace workshops were able to refine more than 20 kinds of enamel pigments themselves, which is a product of the peak period of ancient Chinese polychrome porcelain craftsmanship.