Two dishes on footring. Covered with a light-brown glaze. Famille verte, decorated in various shades of green, aubergine, iron-red and black enamels on the glaze with a rock, flowering plants, butterflies and insects. The dish on the left with a decoration of a gnarled, flowering prunus. A large, prominent, black beetle has been painted on the dish on the right. The reverse is undecorated. On the base the six-character mark Xuande in a double circle. Natural scenes were a popular decorative theme on Chinese porcelain since olden times. They are depicted here with great attention to detail. Note the care taken when painting the insects, a subject already apparent on kraak porcelain. Here, the large, skilfully painted black beetle is almost the principal motif. The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam has a bowl with a comparable representation (Jörg & Van Campen).