Page 49 - For the Love of Porcelain

Antiquarianism, Longevity Characters, and the Decorative Arts in China

A Chinese ming-dynasty, Jiajing-period (1522–66) double gourd-shaped porcelain vase in the

collection of the Princessehof National museum of Ceramics is decorated with wishes for long

life (fig. 1). this vase is just one example of numerous porcelains with a decoration related to

longevity and immortality produced during the Jiajing emperor’s reign.
Adriana Proser

The story of how the Jiajing emperor was
consumed with the notion of immortality in
the latter part of his forty-five year reign and
criticised for neglecting his office because of
it by the official Hai Rui (1540–87) in 1566
1
has become legendary.
Eva Ströber has pointed out that the design
1 depicted on the lower part (or belly) of the 2
Double gourd vase, double-gourd vase – a lion, an elephant, a Artist/maker unknown,
painted with wishes for a qilin, and a horse galloping over waves – Birthday hanging, ฀
long life, Chinese, Ming has its origins in the imagery of the Classic Chinese, early 19th
dynasty, Jiajing period of the Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing), a century, silk satin with
(1522 - 66), Jingdezhen work consisting of text dating from around silk and metallic
porcelain, painted in the third century BC to the first century embroidery,
underglaze blue, AD that was rediscovered in the Ming- h. 182.9, w. 147.3 cm,
h. 63.5, d. 21.0 cm, dynasty Chenghua period (1465–87) and Philadelphia Museum
Princessehof National printed in many illustrated versions. 2 Of of Art,
Museum of Ceramics, particular interest to this essay, however, inv. no. 1973-171-4,
Leeuwarden, are not the fabulous animals, but the forty gift of Mrs. Clarence

inv. no. GMP 1967-111 characters for long life (shou 壽) that dot H. Clark, 1973
much of the cloud-and-scrolling-vine-filled
space above them. Standard script characters and has remained so in China for over a
appear in circular cartouches and seal script thousand years. Seal script is an archaic form
occurs in both circular and diamond-shaped of writing that had many variant forms prior
cartouches. Standard script, as the name to the creation of a standardised form of
suggests, is the standard form of writing seal script that occurred as part of the Qin-

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