Dish with Eight Buddhist Emblems China, Qing dynasty, Tongzhi period (1862-74) porcelain with overglaze enamels, 18 7/8 inches (47.9 cm) diameter Gift of May Wilfley in memory of her parents, A. R. Wilfley and Addie M. Wilfley 1974.53

The Tongzhi emperor was only nineteen when he died, and his mother, the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), supervised state affairs during his reign and that of the young cousin who succeeded him. As patron of the Imperial Kiln, she influenced the ceramic style of the period, and this large dish, colorfully decorated with the eight Buddhist emblems, is typical of her taste. The rare base mark of the dish indicates that it was made for the Chu Xiu Gong, (Palace for Gathering Elegance), a palace within the Forbidden City where she resided for many years and where, indeed, the Tongzhi emperor was born.


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