18TH CENTURY

Jade articles made for the table of wealthy Qing-dynasty scholars were often made in forms taken from nature. The shape of the present water pot carries with it several deeply auspicious wishes for the owner. According to Terese Tse Bartholomew in Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006, p. 47, the lotus flower, hehua, symbolizes both marriage and purity. As the lotus is one of the few plants whose seed pods are visible when the flower begins to bloom, it is also associated with the early arrival of sons, as the seed pod, bursting with seeds, is a symbol of fertility, and the leaf, heye, is a pun for harmony.