A CHINESE WUCAI BALUSTER VASE AND COVER

2ND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Brightly painted with fruiting vines in red, yellow, green and aubergine, with many squirrels scampering amidst the fruits and hanging tendrils, a band of peony to the neck, the domed cover similarly decorated, 40cm. (2)

Cf. The World's Great Collections: Oriental Ceramics, Vol.7, Musée Guimet, col. pl.83, where a related vase is illustrated.

The vine and squirrel, songshu putao, when seen together represent the wish for ceaseless generations of male descendants.