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Lot Essay
The present blue-glazed example appears to be unique although a very limited number of iron-red double-gourd vases gilded with similar longevity motifs bearing Qianlong and Jiaqing marks are published. Compare with a Qianlong-marked iron-red double-gourd vase with a splayed ring foot, from the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Chugoku Toji Zenshu, Japan, 1981, vol. 21, no. 123.
In the later Jiaqing period, the gilding of the lotus blooms on double-gourd vases of this type appears to be more stylised, and overtly auspicious with the addition of wan symbols and shou characters. Compare with a very similar Jiaqing-marked iron-red example from the Cleveland Museum of Art, sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2002, lot 574. On the present vase, there is a subtle variation on the gilded theme with the use of the character fu, 'fortune', decorating the central medallion of each major lotus bloom, and the character shou, 'longevity' on the minor lotus flowers. The combination provides the rebus fushou shuangquan, 'May both fortune and longevity prevail'.
Vases of this type are symbolic of progeny and longevity: the gourd itself is representative of fertility due to its many seeds, whilst numerous shou characters express the wish for long life. The gourd has traditionally been associated with Daoism and is often depicted as a storage vessel, thought to contain the elixir of life that is depicted as an attribute of Li Tieguai, one of the eight Daoist Immortals.
Compare also a related Qianlong-marked blue-ground double-gourd vase gilded with melons borne on twisted vines, flowers and butterflies, illustrated in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, part I, pl. 117.
In the later Jiaqing period, the gilding of the lotus blooms on double-gourd vases of this type appears to be more stylised, and overtly auspicious with the addition of wan symbols and shou characters. Compare with a very similar Jiaqing-marked iron-red example from the Cleveland Museum of Art, sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2002, lot 574. On the present vase, there is a subtle variation on the gilded theme with the use of the character fu, 'fortune', decorating the central medallion of each major lotus bloom, and the character shou, 'longevity' on the minor lotus flowers. The combination provides the rebus fushou shuangquan, 'May both fortune and longevity prevail'.
Vases of this type are symbolic of progeny and longevity: the gourd itself is representative of fertility due to its many seeds, whilst numerous shou characters express the wish for long life. The gourd has traditionally been associated with Daoism and is often depicted as a storage vessel, thought to contain the elixir of life that is depicted as an attribute of Li Tieguai, one of the eight Daoist Immortals.
Compare also a related Qianlong-marked blue-ground double-gourd vase gilded with melons borne on twisted vines, flowers and butterflies, illustrated in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, part I, pl. 117.