A CHINESE FAMILLE-ROSE PINK-GROUND BASIN Qing Dynasty, 19th Century The rounded sides rising to a wide rim, painted with stylised lotus flowers, lilies and ripe peaches issuing from scrolling polychrome leafy stems on a pink ground, the edges heightened with bands of gilt, 29cm diameter 清十九世紀 粉紅地粉彩纏枝番蓮洗 Note: The lotus flower has been greatly revered throughout Chinese history, with poets penning odes to the delicate flowers emerging from the cold, murky pond waters, painters depicting them in skillfully-executed brushes of ink and colour, emperors commissioning the imperial workshops to produce porcelain wares and works of art adorned with intricate lotus motifs, and scholars admiring and contemplating these pieces in their studies. The lotus has many auspicious meanings. The flower is a symbol of purity, owing to the fact that lotus flowers rise unsullied from the mud beneath the water. One word for lotus (‘ he ’) is a homophone for the word ‘harmony’, and the various names for lotus also portend the imminent arrival of sons.