Lot Essay
The symbolism on the present lot is especially auspicious. The bats, fu, represent blessings, and peaches, shoutao, represent longevity. Together, bats and peaches form the rebus fushou shuangquan, 'may you possess both blessings and longevity'.
A very similar white jade peach-shaped pouring vessel in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated by Jiu-fang Li and Yang Boda, Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages: Connoisseurship of Chinese Jades, vol. 12, Hong Kong, 1997, p. 141, no. 70. See, also, the Qianlong period white jade peach-form pouring vessel of the same size although without ring handles, also carved with bats in flight, from the di Portanova Collection, sold in these rooms, 20 October 2000, lot 102.
A very similar white jade peach-shaped pouring vessel in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated by Jiu-fang Li and Yang Boda, Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages: Connoisseurship of Chinese Jades, vol. 12, Hong Kong, 1997, p. 141, no. 70. See, also, the Qianlong period white jade peach-form pouring vessel of the same size although without ring handles, also carved with bats in flight, from the di Portanova Collection, sold in these rooms, 20 October 2000, lot 102.