350.
A PALE-BLUE-GLAZED AND SPLIP-DECORATED DOUBLE GOURD VASE, HULUPING
Qing dynasty, 18th century
16 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891).
inv. n. 3381.
The so called ‘clair de lune’ glaze has been one of the many inventions of the ceramists in Jingdezhen during the first half of the eighteenth century. Their aim was in some ways to reproduce the effect of the monochrome glazes of the most admired ceramics of the Song dynasty, in this vase evoked also by the harmonious proportions of the double-gourd shape.
Bats (fu) are among the most popular motifs of good auspicious in Chinese culture. The main reason of this significance is the homophony with the character which means “good fortune, happiness”. Usually, as in this vase, bats are depicted flying amidst clouds (yun), whose name as the same sound of “good fortune” (yun).
As their popularity as a decorative motif increased in the Qing dynasty, bats were more commonly depicted in a very stylized manner, differently from how they appear on this vase, certainly in a more naturalistic but still synthetic rendition of their anatomy.
