A FINELY CARVED SPINACH-GREEN JADE MARRIAGE BOWL

The motifs of the butterflies (die) and melons (gua) form the rebus Guadie mian mian, purveying the wish for ceaseless generations of sons and grandsons which originated in the Chinese classic, Book of Odes. The phrase later played an important part in the New Year's Eve ceremony in the household of the Manchu prince, Jin Shishui, who recorded in his autobiography Life in a Princely Household, that butterflies and melons were reared in hothouses in his family's garden until New Year's Eve, cf. T. Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006, p. 62.