Gourd-Shaped Vase with Gourds on Vines and Bats in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 2023

Title: Gourd-shaped vase with gourds on vines and bats

Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722)

Date: early 18th century

Culture: China

Medium: Porcelain painted in underglaze cobalt blue (Jingdezhen ware)

Dimensions: H. 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm); Diam. 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm); Diam. of rim: 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm); Diam. of foot: 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm)

Classification: Ceramics

Credit Line: Purchase by subscription, 1879

Accession Number: 79.2.467

Beyond the appeal of its sinuous form and elegant blue-and-white decoration, this gourd-shaped vase would have been treasured for the layers of auspicious meaning encoded in its decoration. The image of gourds on vines is a rebus, or visual word puzzle, for “fortune and prosperity through ten thousand generations” (fulu wandai), while the combination of bats and gourds forms a second rebus for “good fortune and wealth” (fulu).

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/48559