Limited Edition Box Lily of the Valley

Incorporating the perfection of Nature into her designs und creating useful ware that is likewise beautiful are goals the Chinese porcelain artist Zhuoyu Hou is passionate about. Plants, animals, water and even fleetingly reflected light spur her imagination on and invariably underpin the way she approaches the heritage-rich material that is Meissen porcelain.

The young artist drew inspiration from the dynamic flow characteristics of water when modelling her latest creation. Here, she has moulded the spiralling, eddying motion of a whirlpool into the box's surfaces. Lines and areas of flowing curved shape girdle the box and its lid, subdividing them into 6 and 8 sections respectively. Some of these are softly undulating, some rather more precipitous - much like life itself. The numbers 6 and 8 possess great symbolic value in Chinese culture, being emblematic of happiness and wealth.

Lily-of-the-valley envelops the box's curvaceously moulded lid like some fragrant carpet. In opting for this delicate bloom, Zhuoyu Hou and Meissen porcelain painter Anett Helbig were taking up a classic motif from naturalistic flower painting at the Manufactory. Isolated sprays are also to be found on the box's body, as if carried there by the wind. They seem to give off the characteristic heady fragrance that signals the arrival of spring each year.