The present vase, bearing a Xianfeng mark, exemplifies the 19th-century imperial revival of earlier Qing and Ming decorative traditions. Its distinctive garlic-bulb mouth, rising from an elongated neck, was a favored design element throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties and is likely inspired by archaic Eastern Zhou bronzes.
The decoration of the “Three Abundances”, finger citron, peach, and pomegranate, is both painterly and symbolic, conveying the auspicious wish fushou sanduo, “May you be blessed with the three abundances of happiness, longevity, and sons.”
See a Qianlong-period example in the Capital Museum, Beijing, published in Zhongguo gu taoci quanji [Complete Series on Chinese Ceramics], Shanghai, 1999–2000, vol. 15, pl. 8; and one in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingdai guanyao ciqi, Shanghai, 2003, p. 211.