石榴纹
The pomegranate, shown split open to reveal its seeds, is a symbol of fertility and abundant offspring, part of a standard set of 'many seeds, many sons' auspicious motifs.
Motif Study
The pomegranate's abundance of seeds made it a natural symbol for fertility and numerous descendants in Chinese visual culture, a meaning reinforced by the near-homophony between the Chinese words for 'seed' and 'son.' It is most often shown burst open, its interior visible, rather than as a closed, unbroken fruit.
Pomegranate imagery appears on Jingdezhen porcelain from the Ming dynasty onward, frequently as part of a broader grouping of auspicious fruits — alongside the peach for longevity and the finger citron for good fortune — known collectively as the 'three abundances.' It appears on both underglaze blue-and-white ware and Qing overglaze enamel production, adapting readily to either palette.
The pomegranate is typically rendered on a fruiting branch, split to expose clustered seeds, often alongside leaves and blossom to indicate the full life cycle of the plant in a single image — a compositional habit shared with the other fruits in the 'three abundances' grouping.
Further Reading