清末 黃銅刻龍鳳蝙蝠蜘蛛壽字紋酒壺

of tapered quatrefoil form, each side elaborately chased with paired five-clawed dragons, long tailed phoenix and a spider, on the top with two phoenix and two dragons, and four posts chased with spirals and a shou motif, the short neck with leaves, the center of lid chased with a shou motif surrounded by five bats (wu fu peng shou), the border with gourd and wan motifs, the movable handle again carved with a spider, and a pair of dragons chasing a pearl, the spout carved with five bats, the inside of the wine pot lined with pewter

The ornamentation of this ewer is full of traditional symbolism: dragon and phoenix are probably most popular motifs in Chinese art, meaning good government and heavenly peace; dragons chasing a pearl is the sign of auspiciousness; bats rebus ‘fu’ (happiness); and spider implies that good fortunes come from the sky (xi cong tian jiang); the character ‘shou’ (longevity) is also employed as an ornamental element here.    

We have not seen any identical pieces to this lot.  But, there are some comparable examples: see Zhongguo taoci quanji, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 13, no. 112, a porcelain wucai pot with lobed body and an upright handle (tilianghu), decorated with dragon and phoenix, dates to the Wanli period; two examples of cloisonné enamels, with the upright handle and carved dragon motif but more conical bodies, are in the collections of the Palace Museum in Beijing (Metal-Bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 70, no. 67) and the National Palace Museum Taipei (Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, no p. 145, no. 61) respectively, but one dates to late Ming, the other Qianlong period.  A circular metal box with cover, now in the collection of Robert H. Clague, bears the similar decoration of dragon and phoenix motifs that are also results of the same cold-work techniques; the piece has a four character mark Qianlong nianzao; see Robert D. Mowry, China's Renaissane in Bronze: The Robert H. Clague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900, Phoenix Art Museum, 1993, pp. 186-89, no. 39.

Portable XRF data suggest that the teapot is constructed using a high-zinc brass. The high-zinc brass alloy composition is consistent with analyzed brass compositions collected from Qing objects that post-date the early 17th century in China.