Large wanshou vase in underglaze blue

Three wheel-thrown sections are luted together to produce this monumental vase. Inscribed with precisely 10,000 characters, all but one of which are variations of shou（壽）—which means longevity, the vase is emphatically auspicious. These shou characters appear in three sizes. While the large and mid-sized characters vary in design, some small characters are written in identical style. The auspicious meaning of the vase is further enhanced by the fact that the one exceptional character—not of shou—turns out to be wan, which means “ten thousand”.

The vessel with the “ten thousand longevity” motif was a tribute to the Emperor on his birthday (also called Wanshoujie, Festival of Ten Thousand Longevity). Judging from the form, paste, glaze, as well as the tone of the cobalt blue, this vase must have come from the imperial porcelain factory in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province during the Kangxi reign (1662–1722).

It had been a general belief that the vase was made for the 60th birthday of the Kangxi Emperor in 1713, the 52nd year of his reign. But the theory has been eschewed in the light of newly discovered documentary evidences backed by historical records in local gazetteers, Daily Records of the Emperor Kangxi and other relevant historical accounts. Latest research has suggested that the vase was a birthday tribute to the emperor from Jiangxi provincial officials for the Kangxi Emperor's 30th birthday in 1683 by the reopened imperial porcelain factory in Jiangxi after the end of the disruptive “Rebellion of the Three Feudatories” as well as the unification of Taiwan.

The tradition of depicting “longevity” themes on ceramics made its appearance during the Jiajing reign (1522–1566) in the mid-Ming dynasty and continued into the Qing. This monumental blue and white vase is a continuation of that tradition, but the decorative scheme, consisting of entirely stylized shou characters, is an innovation of the Kangxi reign.