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Description: | Porcelain bowl decorated with the Daoist Eight Immortals (baxian) in underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze enamels. The bowl has rounded sides and stands on a footring. The bowl is decorated in underglaze blue and overglaze red enamels on a white background. There is a double line of underglaze blue below the rim on both the interior and exterior of the bowl. On the foot of the bowl is a continuous keyfret border in overglaze red over faint lines in underglaze blue. The exterior of the bowl is finely painted with a continuous frieze of the Eight Immortals on a sea of breaking waves; the Immortals are painted in underglaze blue and the waves are painted in overglaze red. The Eight Immortals are depicted wearing similar flowing robes and are evenly arranged around the bowl: Zhongli Quan, Li Tieguai, Lan Caihe, Han Xiangzi, Cao Guojiu, Zhang Guolao, Lü Dongbin and He Xiangu. Zhongli Quan is depicted as a fat man with a bare chest and belly, holding his beard in his left hand and a peach in his outstretched right hand. Li Tieguai sits on his iron crutch and he holds his gourd in his outstretched right hand, from which a scroll or cloud is escaping on which Li Tieguai himself is depicted. Lan Caihe is shown standing on a fish, holding a flower to his nose in the left hand and holding a flower basket suspended from a hoe over his right shoulder. Han Xiangzi stands on a sea creature, playing on his flute. Cao Guojiu wears an official court headdress and stands on an octopus, twisting around to throw his castanets into the air. Zhang Guolao stands on a bamboo tube drum from which two rods protrude; he stands with his arms outstretched as if to catch the castanets thrown by Cao Guojiu. Lü Dongbin stands on what appears to be a scallop shell with a man standing close behind him. He holds a fly whisk in his left hand and his sword slung across his back, visible over his left shoulder. He Xiangu stands on a lotus petal or leaf and rests the stem of the lotus flower on her right shoulder. On the bottom of the interior is a scene within a double band in underglaze blue. The scene depicts Shoulao, the god of longevity, with a large brow and wearing flowing robes. In his left hand Shoulao holds a staff with an animal-head finial, from which a gourd is suspended. Beside him stands his deer with a lingzhi fungus in its mouth. Shoulao and the deer are surrounded by a circle of five red bats. There is a six-character mark of Guangxu in underglaze blue in the centre of the recessed base. There are a few small chips around the rim. | Subjects: | bowl receptacle/vessel bowl | Source: | Vads | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=345... | Go to resource |
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