Pair of plates; China, early 20th century. Porcelain.... Lot 57

Pair of plates; China, early 20th century. Porcelain. Green Family style. With seals on the base. Measurements: 2,5 x 23 cm (diameter); 2 x 23 cm (diameter). Pair of porcelain plates that stand out for their great ornamentation. The works follow the style called Green Family, which is the western denomination for a style of Chinese polychrome porcelain that derives from wucai (literally, "five colours"). Wucai was created during the Ming dynasty, and has been widely used in China ever since. It is characterised by only some of the motifs being executed in cobalt-blue underglaze, while the rest of the decoration is applied already on the glaze. In addition, black glaze is added for the outlines, in early times covered with a translucent green glaze to fix it. The Green Family style is a type of wucai called yingcai ("solid colours"), which is characterised by the predominance of copper oxide green. The name yingcai refers to the quality of the glazes, which are crystalline because they are mostly applied to the glaze.