Beauty's-Shoulder-Shaped Prunus Vase

This Large Lidded Prunus Vase with Blue-and-White Painting of Three Endurable Plants of Winter and Immortals Made in Jiajing’s Reign (1522-1566) of the Ming Dynasty is 64cm tall and was unearthed from the tomb of Ms. Mo, the wife of Jingjiang Prince Xianding in 1983. The vase is vintage and dignified in modeling, mellow in texture, and bright in the emerald green color. The beauty's-shoulder-shaped modeling especially presents a pleasantly new appearance.

The designs of the vase consist of five layers, which are supported and adorned by four sets of designs, namely the stretching banana leaves, cranes high in the clouds, flowers with twining branches and a heavenly steed soaring in the sky. The belly is designed with the themed painting of "three endurable plants of winter and three immortals". In the painting, lofty mountains are vaguely seen in the coiling mist. Pines, bamboos and plums bring out the best of each other and jointly form a pleasantly graceful scene. Under the pines, bamboos and plums, three immortals sit on the ground in meditation. They use feathered fans to keep the furnace burning. The three immortals are respectively: Lv Dongbin with a treasured sword on his back, Iron Crutch Li with a walking stick and Zhang Guolao sitting on a stone stool. Ancient artists were adept at exercising their creative mind. They turned Zhang Guolao's donkey into a stone stool with a head and feet! The designs of the entire vase perfectly interpret the Taoist conception of the unity of form and spirit and the theory that human is an integral part of nature. This is closely bound up with Emperor Jiajing's advocacy in and yearning for immortality.