Page 223 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 London

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A famille verte ‘silk production’ rouleau vase
Kangxi six-character mark, 19th century
Finely enamelled with a continuous scene of workers pounding roots
to make dye in a thatched hut beneath the moon and constellations
divided by a wooded grove and an inscription from another hut where
ladies sort trays of silkworms and mulberry leaves beside another
inscription, all beneath four cartouches on the sloping shoulder
containing books, an abacus, a qin and a bundle of brushes, the
neck with a continuous mountain scene below the lipped rim.
46cm (18in) high
£3,000 - 5,000
HK$37,000 - 62,000 CNY29,000 - 49,000

十九世紀 五彩人物故事圖棒槌瓶 青花「大清康熙年製」楷書款

On the vase is inscribed two poems; one poem is on the
subject of distributing mulberry leaves to silkworms:

分箔
三眠三起餘
飽葉蠶局從
眾多搶分箔
早晚磓滿屋
郊原過新雨
桑柘添濃綠
竹間快活吟
慚愧麥飽熟

This may be translated as:

“Scattering [Mulberry] Leaves
Over three hibernations and three awakenings,
Plump on leaves the silkworms comply.
The numerous silkworms vie for the scattered leaves,
From morning to evening piles [of leaves] fill the room.
in the outer country, rain in early spring has passed,
The mulberry trees have an added luxuriant green.
Among the bamboo merrily singing,
Humbly, we cook our millet.”

Next to a scene of pounding root for dye is this poem
describing the process:

舂碓
娟娟月過牆
簌簌風吹葉
田家當此時
村舂響相答
行聞炊玉香
會見流匙滑
更須水轉輪
地碓劳蹴踏

This may be translated as:

“Pounding
The beautiful moon passes over the wall,
The wind blows and the leaves rustle.
Farming families during this time,
Can hear each other villages’ pounding.
Walking, one can smell fragrant jade steaming [i.e colour dye]
One can see their spoons sliding in the liquid.
They need even more a water wheel,
Thumping the earth, plodding on the tread mill.

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