Bowl with Poppies, Tree Peony, and Flowering Mimosa

Developments in enamel technology led to new possibilities in polychrome decoration. Pinks appeared, lending their name to the new palette of overglaze colors (famille rose), and the addition of opaque white allowed painters to vary the value of pigments, enhancing the painterly quality of porcelain decoration. As on painted scrolls and album leaves, the image is accompanied with a poem, in this case: "Branches come alive in the moonlight; Blossoms fill the autumn realms."