Ancient Chinese Art
Along with wishes for happiness and prosperity, the third kind of wish often made is for long life. This cup, called a stem cup, is decorated with the Chinese character shou (�long life�). This word is so popular that many ways of writing it have been devised. This cup contains 100 of them, wishing someone many more birthdays to come.
The owner of this cup donated it to the Asian Art Museum when he was 100 years old, after which he lived several more years. It seems to have been a good omen for him!
Stem Cup Decorated with Shou Characters, Gold and Blue enamel on porcelain, height 10.2 cm. Qing dynasty, yongzheng period (1723-1735). Gift of Rudolph Schaeffer. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.