A black and white jade 'pine trunk' double vase, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period

French Family Collection.

Marchant, London.

Ninety Jades for 90 Years, Marchant, London, 2015, p. 156/7, cat. no. 84.

This combination of bamboo, zhu, and prunus, mei, represents the unity of a husband and wife. Together with lingzhi, a symbol of longevity, and the bat, fu, happiness, this vibrant scene forms the rebus fu shou shuang quan, ‘Wishing you long life and happiness.’

Compare a similar vase from the The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade, London, 2013, pl. 72; another, bearing a Qianlong four-character seal mark, in the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Jade, vol. 8: Qing dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl. 186; and another related trunk-form vessel, carved with prunus branches in high relief, in Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 118.