Pair of Canton Porcelain lamps "Famille Rose" from the 19th century decorated with bronze

Pair of Canton Porcelain "Famille Rose" lamps from the 19th century adorned with bronze, decorated with characters. 85cm high with the lampshade. The Famille rose-type decoration appeared in the Qing dynasty, around 1720, and triumphed in 1730 under the reigns of Yongzheng (1723-1735) and Qianlong (1736-1795). It was a Dutch chemist named Andréas Cassius who discovered, in 1650, the chemical formula for obtaining pink enamels later called "Cassius' purple". It was through the Jesuits that "Cassius' purple" reached the Chinese court around 1719. Purple mixed with an opaque arsenic-based white gives the pink to which the decorative palette owes its name. The porcelain of the rose family has polychrome decorations in which pink tones predominate and very frequently they present a plant motif made up of flowers and bouquets. The Famille rose decoration uses enamels baked on a muffle fire at 750-800 ° C. Their application takes place on a porcelain coated with glaze and previously fired at 1300-1350 ° C. Three enamels are characteristic: pink enamel, white enamel and opaque yellow enamel.