Bottles with Pine and Deer

A group of deer under a pine grove is painted in great detail on the body of these bottles using the technique of fencai (famille rose), an adaptation of European cloisonné decoration that developed in the Kangxi era (1662–1722) of Qing-dynasty China. The relief-work bats attached to the neck of the bottle are rendered in bright red, instead of the more standard black. This is thought to symbolize overflowing good fortune, because the second Chinese character for ‘bat’ is homonymous with characters meaning ‘good fortune’, ‘crimson red’, and ‘large amounts’ or ‘overflowing’. What is more, the Chinese pronunciation of the character for ‘deer’ recalls another meaning ‘blessing/prosperity’, so with the addition of the pine trees symbolizing perpetual youth and longevity, the entire surface of the bottle is filled with auspicious motifs that are allegorical references to good fortune, prosperity and longevity.
These motifs accord perfectly with their being products of the Imperial kilns (kilns producing ceramics exclusively for the imperial court); underglaze-blue inscriptions inside the foot-rings tell us that they were was made in the Qianlong era (1736–1795).