A blue and white sleeve vase, Ming dynasty, Chongzhen period 明崇禎 青花折桂圖筒瓶

The scene on the present vase recalls the allusion of zhegui (‘to pluck an osmanthus branch’), which represents success in the imperial examinations and signifies an official's blossoming career. The phrase comes from a legend that a great osmanthus tree grows in the Lunar Palace. Branches of the tree are thought to rarely fall to Earth and grant good luck to whosoever found them. Furthermore, the imperial exam results were announced on the eighth lunar month, which coincided with the blooming season of the osmanthus. 

See a related sleeve vase, formerly in the collection of Robert Murray Bell, now in the collection of Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (object no. 998.110.1), illustrated on https://collections.rom.on.ca/objects/326756/jingdezhen-ware-vase;jsessionid=C1E6C344C91B8252ACB778914DD08547.

參考一相類筒瓶，原屬 Robert Murray Bell 收藏，現貯於多倫多皇家安大略博物館（館藏編號：998.110.1），圖載於https://collections.rom.on.ca/objects/326756/jingdezhen-ware-vase;jsessionid=C1E6C344C91B8252ACB778914DD08547。