A VERY FINE AND LARGE ROSE-VERTE 'COURTING COUPLE' CHARGER Yongzheng period, circa 1723-1736 Densely and brightly enameled in a variety of colors with a central courtyard scene on a fenced terrace, a blue-robed dignitary and his consort flanked by elegantly clad servants watching an amorously motivated rooster and hen in the foreground, all within an elaborate gilt and iron-red Y-pattern border reserved at the compass points with four leaf-shaped panels depicting elegant ladies and children engaged in recreational activities. 18 3/4in (47.5cm) diam Footnotes: 雍正時期 約1732-1736年 五彩描金《遊園男女》大盤 Published: Cohen & Cohen, The Golden Gate Collection, Antwerp, 2018, p. 180, no. 134 出版： 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《The Golden Gate Collection》，安特衛普，2018年，頁180，圖版編號134 The origin of this story is obscure, although the original source of this carefully balanced and complicated domestic scene is almost certainly a late Ming or early Qing woodblock print published in a printed romantic novel. The theme of the design is self-evident, the message defined by the pair of butterflies over the heads of the central figures, the amorous rooster and hen at their feet, and the ladies in repose that fill the cartouches to the border. Two facing butterflies (hudie) imply 'joyful encounter' and symbolize the joyful meeting or union of husband and wife; see Bartholomew 2006, no. 2.5.1.