A FINE AND RARE IMPERIAL BLUE AND WHITE 'THREE ABUNDANCES' VASE, China, Yongzheng six-character mark and period, the fruit which provide the major decoration on the current vase are known in Chinese as san duo, or the 'Three Abundances'. The peaches symbolise an abundance of long life; the pomegranates symbolise an abundance of sons and grandsons, The 'Three Abundances' was a very popular theme in the 18th century and appears on a number of porcelain vessels decorated in various technique. The elegant design of branches of flowers and fruit of the present vase is inspired by a motif created in the Yongle period (1403-24), in which six or ten fruiting sprays were painted on meiping - Property from an old German private collection, bought by the present owner in the late 1960's from Albert Offermann, Cologne - Short hairline crack to rim