The fine ceramics reveal the subtle refinement that Yongzheng favored — from monochromatic to doucai (contrasted colors) and qinghua (cobalt blue and white) — and are among over 100 works of art at the ongoing exhibition Actualize the Perfect Clarity, Achieving Centrality and Harmony. The objects reveal his temperament and his emphasis that art should be made to exact imperial supremacy and authority.

The exhibition runs until May 26 at the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.

An impressive plate, 50 centimeters in diameter, is highlighted in the exhibition as a testimony to the technical brilliance of fencai, or famille rose ware, during Yongzheng's reign. Objects made in this style assume rosy opaque colors above glaze to deliver understated beauty.

"Its elegance immediately catches your attention," says Li Jiawei, one of the exhibition's curators.