48.
A WUCAI ENAMELLED BEAKER ‘CHANG’E AWARDING AN OSMANTHUS TO A SCHOLAR’ VASE, GU
Qing dynasty, circa 1650-65
40,2 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
Inv. n. 3723.
The vase is decorated in the wucai palette with the trumpet shaped section decorated with a scene depicting Chang’e on the terrace of the Guanghan Palace on the moon, which is symbolised by the curved convex line. Chang’e, who became the Moon Goddess having stolen the pill of immortality, is holding aloft a sprig of sweet osmanthus (guihua), and is further distinguished by the hare next to her, a symbol of the moon and immortality, and by the lady attendant holding a canopy above her. Three other lady attendants are standing beside her, with one holding a basket filled with osmanthus. Opposite Chang’e arriving on clouds are two dignitaries, one holding an osmanthus sprig and a young scholar in a suppliant pose, wearing a scholar’s cap, who had just passed the imperial civil service examinations, and as a reward for obtaining the jinshi degree, is about to be bestowed with a sprig of osmanthus. The scene is divided by rockwork, pine and swirling cloud scrolls.
The expression “plucking a branch of osmanthus from the Moon Palace” (changgong zhegui) became a paraphrase for passing the imperial examinations. The osmanthus blossoms in autumn and has therefore come to be associated with the Mid-Autumn festival also known as the Moon Festival. The imperial examinations were held in the eight lunar month and thus the two came to be associated. The vase therefore was likely made to commemorate the success at the imperial examinations by a scholar.
The projecting middle section is decorated with chrysanthemum and peony growing amidst rockwork. The lower section is decorated with branches bearing bursting pomegranates and ripe peaches, symbolic of having many descendants and long life.
A wucai jar, dated 1646 and decorated with a similar scene, is in the Art Institute of Chicago (Tyson bequest 1964.671), illustrated in M. Butler – J.B. Curtis – S. Little, (edited by), Shunzhi Porcelain. Treasures from an Unknown Reign 1644-1661, exhibition catalogue, Alexandria (Virginia) 2002, pp. 232-233, n. 81; and see also pp. 206-207, n. 64, for a wucai sleeve vase with a related design of ‘The Tang Emperor visits the Moon Palace’. Compare also with a wucai brushpot, circa 1650-1660, and a blue and white brushpot, circa 1670, with a similar subject matter (S. Marsh, Brushpots: A Collector’s View, Barcelona 2020, pp. 140-143, nn. PB93 and PB83).
A wucai enamelled jar and cover with the same decorative subject belonged to the collection of Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), now in the Porzellansammlung in Dresden (inv. n. PO 894 a, b).
