YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

Porcelains decorated with peach branches, which were associated with longevity, were very popular in the Qing dynasty, and may have been commissioned as birthday gifts or as a form of commemoration for an imperial birthday. The auspicious scene of five bats (wufu) and a peach tree (shou) may represent the rebus shoushan fuhai, which can be translated to the traditional Chinese birthday greeting: may your happiness be boundless as the Eastern Sea, and may you live as old as a southern mountain. A similar dish is in the Shanghai Museum of Art, illustrated in the Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. J. M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, p. 82, no. 48.