A very large and unusual Chinese export biscuit-glazed charger

清康熙晚期／雍正早期 五彩山水田園珐瑯大盤

China, late Kangxi / early Yongzheng period, Qing dynasty

Executed in the famille verte palette on a brilliant yellow ground, the interior of this charger depicts a sweeping panoramic landscape. The composition employs a traditional three-fold perspective: the foreground features a scholarly or noble figure in a palanquin being whisked across a bridge by attendants. This transitions into a middle ground where figures navigate a boat along a riverbank lined with weeping willows. The background recedes into a distant bridge set beneath swirling, polychrome clouds, evoking the soft light of a sunrise or sunset.

The rim is intricately decorated with a floral diaper ground, interspersed with shaped reserves containing Scholar’s Objects and Auspicious Emblems. These include the ‘Four Arts’—the zither, go board, books, and scrolls—alongside the interlocking lozenges, artemisia leaf, ruyi head, and musical stone, collectively symbolising intellectual status and an abundance of good fortune.

The reverse continues the vibrant yellow-ground scheme, featuring shaped panels containing various botanical studies and vessels, all set against a green-enamelled geometric border.