A Chinese famille verte 'rice production' plate

The interior of this plate is decorated with a scene depicting the transplanting of the rice. This image is based on the Chinese Gengzhi tu, images of weaving and ploughing. The first known example of Gengzhi tu is made during the Song dynasty, depicting every step of the agricultural production process. The Gengzhi tu become very popular in China and also spread to other media, the images are for example used as decoration for porcelain. In Europe, the Gengzhi tu , depicting the production of the Chinese wares that are so popular, are considered very appealing and become a popular decoration motive for export porcelain.