Rose Family style dish. China, early 20th century.

Rose Family style dish. China, early 20th century.
Glazed porcelain.
With seal on the base.
Measurements: 34 cm (diameter).

Porcelain dish with polychrome decoration of the Rose Family style, with chrysanthemums of sensual corollas on the seat and vegetal fretwork on the eaves. This is a style typical of ceramics exported to Europe, developed from the second half of the nineteenth century. It is an ornate and very ornamental style, usually decorated with figurative scenes, and mainly characterized by the use of a wider palette than the normal Rose Family, dominated by light and bright shades, mainly pinks and greens. Thanks to the discovery of the white glaze at the end of the Kangxi period (first half of the 18th century), Chinese potters expanded the palette, achieving new tonal ranges that allowed them to conform more to European tastes, even achieving gradations of color. Within the Canton Rose Family there are three styles: pink medallion, nonya or straits. There is also the Mandarin style, which emerged in 1820, and is characterized by its decorations with typically Chinese figures, dressed in the traditional manner, set in domestic or courtly environments captured with detail and narrative. The pictorial decoration is organized in cartouches, on a dense background of flowers and insects, typical of 19th century Chinese export porcelain. There are also cartouches with compositions of flowers and insects on a white background.