A blue and white bowl, Ming dynasty, Jiajing period, yutang jiaqi mark 明嘉靖 青花蟾宮折桂圖折沿盌 《玉堂佳器》款

The Fame of Flame: Imperial Wares of the Jiajing and Wanli Periods, University of Hong Kong Museum, Hong Kong, 2009, cat. no. 16.

《爐火純青：嘉靖及萬曆官窯瓷器》，香港大學美術博物館，香港，2009年，編號16

The scene recalls the allusion of changong zhegui (‘to pluck an osmanthus branch from the Moon Palace’), 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. The interior roundel also hints at the phrase pingbu qingyun ('may your career growth progress as high up as the clouds').

此盌繪蟾宮折桂圖，外壁繪兩官人頭戴高冠，拱手揖讓，明月高掛後方作襯景，寓意狀元及第、金榜題名。盌心則繪一官人手執桂枝，腳踏祥雲，寓意「平步青雲」。

宋代詩人張寶齊云:「好去蟾宮是歸路，明年應折桂枝香」。北宋《避署錄話》亦載：「世以登科為折桂，此謂都對策東堂，自云桂林一枝也，自唐以來用之。」