A blue and white 'shou' rouleau vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period | 清康熙 青花萬壽棒槌瓶

Collection of Holger Rosell (1917-2009), Stockholm.

Holger Rosell（1917-2009年）收藏，斯德哥爾摩

Inscribed with 695 shou-characters and yinyang symbols, this possibly unique rouleau vase forms part of the famous group of vases with 10,000 shou-characters and a group of approximately 740 shou-characters.

The former group was possibly made for one of the Kangxi Emperor’s milestone birthdays. It has also been suggested that these vases were produced for the Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, grandmother of the Kangxi Emperor to celebrate her 60th birthday in 1673, or her 70th birthday in 1683. See an example from the Qing Court collection and now preserved in Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 2000, pp. 8-9.

See also a related vase with 905 shou-characters, possibly written by the same calligrapher, in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 13, where the author notes that this group of vases was usually made to commemorate the birthday of an elderly member of the royal court.

Another related vase is illustrated in Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1992, cat. no. 131; and another with approximately 740 characters from the Szekeres Collection, included in Chinese Art: The Szekeres Collection, J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2019, cat. no. 13.