At the Yueyang Tower
Imperial kilns, Jingdezhen, 1821 – 1850
Height: 6.08 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.95/1.93 cm
Stopper: glass carved with a coiled chi dragon
Provenance:
Private American estate
Meeseen Loong, September 2008
Famille rose enamels on colourless glaze on porcelain; with a slightly convex lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding flat, oval foot rim; painted with a wrap-around scene leaving a join down one narrow side, showing the Willow Spirit carrying a young woman named Yumei 玉梅 on his back on formalized clouds as Lü Dongbin 呂洞賓and Liang Hao 梁灝 observe, the latter watching from his study in the Wangxian lou望仙樓, the lower part of the structure open with a painting table set in it, with trees and rocks in the foreground, inscribed in regular script Qingyun ke du qingyun ke, zhuangyuan shengxia zhuangyuanlang 青雲客度青雲客, 狀元生下狀元郞 (‘One traveller among the blue clouds ferries another across; an Optimus graduate gives birth to another’), preceded and followed by token seals, the foot inscribed in iron red enamel seal script Daoguang nian zhi道光年製 (‘Made during the Daoguang era’); the interior glazed.
