A pair of large blue and white 'Immortals' meiping, Qing dynasty, late 18th century | 清十八世紀末 青花道教神仙圖梅瓶一對

Collection of Lord Battersea (according to label).

Collection of Dr Wou Kiuan (1910-1997). 

Wou Lien-Pai Museum, coll. no. Q.7.31 a&b.

巴特西勳爵收藏（標簽）

吳權博士（1910-1997）收藏

吳蓮伯博物院，編號Q.7.31 a及b

Vividly painted with the Eight Daoist Immortals gathering to greet Shou Lao, the God of Longevity, seated in a garden, and a deer at the foreground gazing back at them, this pair of meiping is filled with the auspicious message of long life and might have been made as a gift for a birthday celebration. The Eight Immortals, all depicted in different poses and identifiable by their attributes, are well-known from the legend of their celebrating the birthday of the Queen Mother of the West. The deer, traditionally, is believed to live to a very great age and is an emblem of immortality in China.

Produced in the late 18^th century, this pair appears to be a direct copy of a Ming dynasty (1368-1644) prototype. An almost identical vessel, but with a narrower body overall, is preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (accession no. gu-ci-14759). Ming blue-and-white wares continued to be appreciated and therefore copied in the dynasty thereafter. See, for example, two dishes with closely related designs of the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ and court ladies, one from the Ming and the other from the Kangxi period (r. 1662-1722), both preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (accession nos gu-ci-10438 and gu-ci-2816 respectively).