Ball Flower Pastel Tea Canister

This famille rose tea caddy with a ball-shaped floral design was painted by Xu Zhijun, a Qing Dynasty official kiln famille rose porcelain painter from Jingdezhen, who is an inheritor of this intangible cultural heritage.

Ball flower does not refer to a specific type of flower, but rather to a decorative method that uses various shapes of flowers in different forms.

All the floral patterns were standardized into round and hexagonal shapes, resembling colorful little balls.

Some gather in one place, while others are scattered in different places.

1. The ball flower pattern was popular during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty. It was favored by many porcelain collectors for its bright and colorful doucai (enamel overglaze) decoration. The diverse colors of famille rose and doucai porcelain in the Qing Dynasty allowed the ball flower pattern to flourish. The colorful ball flower pattern made this decoration on porcelain memorable.

2. Originating from the roundel pattern, it also possesses characteristics of abstract painting. The ball-shaped flower pattern is a porcelain decoration that combines abstraction and representation.

3. The ball-shaped floral patterns on porcelain are often painted with irregular clusters of flowers. Although they appear chaotic, they retain the traditional Chinese symmetrical pattern, which is a characteristic of Chinese porcelain decoration.