CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, EPOQUE KANGXI (1662-1722)

Large vases in the shape of a double-gourd with an additional third pear shaped bulb (in form of a Yuhuchunping) are exceedingly rare. Very popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties although the type exists since the Tang dynasty, bottle gourds are regarded as bringing happiness in China. The Daoist immortal Li Tieguai carries the elixir of life in a double-gourd vessel. Compare the vase of this unusual type and size illustrated by E. Zimmermann, Chinesisches Porzellan, vol. II, Leipzig, 1923, pl. 117 and another from the Grandidier collection in the Musée Guimet illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1981, vol. 7, pl. 55, where it is described as Japanese and attributed to the Edo period. A pair of similar vases is also illustrated in Eva Ströber, La maladie de porcelaine...East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of August the Strong, Leipzig, Berlin, 2001, no.37 and another pair illustrated in Jeffrey Yibin Stamen & Cynthia Volk, A Culture revealed: Kangxi-era porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang collction, Bruges, 2017, No. 1573 & 1574-1. See, also, the single vase from the Edward James Collection, West Dean Park, sold by Christie's at West Dean, England, 3-4 June 1986, lot 891 and a pair of similar vases from the Cleveland Museum of Art sold at Christie's New York, 21 September 2000, lot 343.