A famille noire enameled 'phoenix tail' vase19th centuryPotted with a trumpet neck rising from a baluster-form body, painted with a myriad of wild fowl perched on blossoming branches or flying toward a phoenix resting on a garden rock worked in bright enamels or showing the white of the glazed porcelain ground beneath a matte black enamel ground applied to the exterior, the white porcelain ground and colorless glaze also visible on the interior and across the recessed base.27in (68.5cm) high注脚The vase illustrates the theme of the 'Hundred Birds Courting the Phoenix' (bai niao chao feng), an illusion to the imperial court paying homage to the Emperor.