This vintage Chinese porcelain ginger jar, with its close-fitting lid, is beautifully decorated in the traditional ‘famille rose’ colour palette of pinks, whites, yellows and greens, as classified by French art historian Albert Jacquemart, who devised this classification of ceramics by colour in the 1860s. Fully glazed inside and out, the jar dates from the Republic Period (1912- 1949), and features an ornate hand-painted decoration of paeony flowers, blossoms and birds – a design that perfectly showcases the vibrant palette of the ‘famille rose’ style. Ginger jars were first made popular in the era of the Qin Dynasty (221 BCE-207 BCE), and were used to store spices such as salt, in addition to ginger. Recognisable by their high, rounded shape and domed lids, they were originally utilitarian in their design. Over the centuries, they have gone from being functional storage vessels to dazzling decorative objects and are now highly prized by collectors of fine porcelain.