A rare blue and white double-gourd vase (huluping). Jiajing period (1522-1566)
Jiajing six-character mark and of the period
The large lower and smaller upper section decorated in deep cobalt-blue with medallions of a dragon, a phoenix, a phoenix-like luan bird and a crane among clouds, separated by spandrels of scrolling lingzhi supporting various Daoist emblems, all between a collar of lotus petal panels below the neck, lotus scroll around the neck and waist, and a border of overlapping petals and scroll bands at the foot. Restored to neck.
Height 48 cm
The shape and decoration of this vase is typical of products from the reign of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566) of the Ming dynasty, who was a devoted follower of Daoism and reflects the popularity of Daoism during his period and his search for immortality. Beside the dragon and phoenix as symbols of power, it shows auspicious Daoist motifs such as the crane, the ruyi-shaped clouds and lingzhi, the fungus of immortality. The shape of the double gourd itself reflects a wish for immortality, because it is a pun for "blessings" (fu) and "emolument" (lu) or "wealth" one acquires from having an official position. The double gourd is also associated with one of the Eight Immortals, Li Tieguai, in which he kept his elixier of immortality and a special medicine for the sick.
明嘉靖 青花開光龍紋福壽鳳鳥雲鶴龍紋大葫蘆瓶 《大明嘉靖年制》款
來源：德國威斯特法倫州古舊收藏
可比：類似物件可見於台灣國立故宮博物院
Provenance
Old private collection, Westphalia
Literature
For similar examples of this type compare one in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and a vase of almost the same height and with identical design is in the Philadelphia Art Museum, illustrated by Jean Gordon Lee, An Exhibition of Blue-decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 1949, no. 110
For a comparison of two confronting phoenixes, one with a two-feathered, the other with a five feathered tail, on a blue and white jar, see: Oriental Ceramic Society, The Arts of the Ming dynasty, London 1957, plate 142