A YELLOW-GROUND FAMILLE ROSE VASECHINA

In addition to the graceful floral scrolls on this vase, the decoration includes a number of auspicious emblems. Four upside-down bats are painted on the neck of the vessel, symbolising the arrival of happiness. This happiness is multiplied by the wan characters, meaning ten thousand, which hang from the ribbons, which the bats hold in their mouths. These same ribbons are slotted through ruyi, from which in turn lotus blossoms are suspended. The ruyi symbolises 'everything as you wish', while the lotus is a Buddhist symbol of purity and beauty. The lappets which form the turned-down mouth rim are in the form of ruyi, which in turn are shaped like a lingzhi fungus.
The lingzhi fungus is one of the most auspicious motifs in the Chinese decorator's repertoire. The name literally means 'divine branch' or 'efficacious branch', and is usually identified with the fruiting body of species of fungi belonging to the Polyporacae family, which are rare in north China, but more common in the south. Because the shape of the fungi often resembles the head of ruyi sceptres, it is associated with the ruyi and its meaning of 'everything as you wish it'.