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The chrysanthemum flowers late in the year, in defiance of frost, and is counted among the Four Gentlemen of Chinese painting as an emblem of integrity, tranquillity and independence from worldly ambition.
Motif Study
Because it blooms in late autumn, when most flowers have faded, the chrysanthemum became a symbol of steadfastness and of a life lived apart from worldly ambition. In Chinese painting it is one of the Four Gentlemen (四君子), together with plum blossom, orchid and bamboo, each standing for a quality of the cultivated person.
This page brings together three ways the chrysanthemum appears in porcelain: as applied decoration, painted or carved on the surface; as the model for a vessel shape, as in the chrysanthemum-petal dish, whose lobed outline follows the open flower; and as a carrier of cultural meaning. Where the flower shapes the vessel, Blue Fir also records it under the form itself. Each object below notes which relation applies.
Further Reading
Contemporary objects connected to this motif
