Baluster vase with phoenixes

Baluster vase with lid, very elongated and multi-lobed plant. The lid has a brass knob screwed into the upper part through a nut. The vase is decorated in the "famille rose" enamels with flowering peony branches and a pair of golden pheasants. Pliny the Elder would have identified this dazzlingly colored bird with the mythological Phoenix. In Chinese tradition and in the paintings of the ancient dynasties this bird appears often.