MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY

This continuous landscape scene most likely represents the gathering of eighteen erudite scholars who were specifically chosen by Emperor Taizong (626-649) to promote interests of culture and literature.

This theme is commonly depicted on porcelain, such as on a Ming-dynasty blue and white double-gourd vase also decorated with the eighteen scholars, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, museum number 006482N000000000, and published in The Palace Museum Porcelain Record, Volume 2, Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1964.