I.73
Three’s a Crowd

Famille rose enamels on translucent glass; with a flat lip and flat foot; painted with a continuous design of three birds, an ancient cypress tree, flowering peonies, a shrub with small pink flowers, and convoluted garden rocks, one of the flying birds a baitou bi 白頭鵯 , or white-vented bulbul, the other flying bird perhaps a jiabage 家八哥, or common myna, the cypress providing a perch for a shoudai niao 綬帶鳥, or Asian paradise flycatcher; the foot incised in regular script Guyue xuan 古月軒 (‘Ancient Moon Pavilion’) and filled with red pigment
Palace workshops, Beijing, 1780–1800
Height: 6.42 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.72/1.82 cm
Stopper: mother-of-pearl; glass collar

Provenance:
Robert Kleiner, 1989