Jar with Flowers, Rocks and Pheasants

In the Qing dynasty, art reached a high standard of technical perfection despite a tendency for extravagance and exaggerated ornament. This jar with susancai (plain three-color) decoration uses shades of light green, purple, and yellow, but no red. The vase features a pair of pheasants looking at each other among flowering plants, such as peonies and magnolia. The porcelain painter used fine dark outlines in a more graphic style to delineate motifs, to texture rocks, and depict minute details such as holes in weathered leaves of plants.