Porcelain bitong brush pot 笔筒 decorated in wucai... Lot 22

Porcelain bitong brush pot 笔筒 decorated in wucai "five-color" enamels, China, transitional period, 17th centuryDecorated with a standing official holding an eighth-rate tablet surrounded by three assistants, one in front of him presenting a jue on a tray and the other two at the back holding a large fan and a qin preserving textile, the figures moving on a terrace in a garden decorated with rocks, shrubs and banana trees under stylized clouds. This scene is an illustration of the rebus "may you be promoted to a higher rank". - jia guan jin jue-加官晋爵. The unglazed base. Height: 15 cmAccident and crack. The combination jia - 加 - "to put on" and guan - 冠 - "hat" i.e. jia guan - 加冠 is a homophone of jia guan - 加官 which means "to receive an official title". Jue 爵 - "bronze wine vase", is a homophone of jue - 爵 (same character) which means "high official rank". Jin jue - 进爵 - "present the jue cup" is homophone of jin jue - 晋爵 - "obtain promotion to a higher rank". On some settings, a child wearing an official guan - 冠 headdress offers a jue cup to a dignitary. Since this guan - 冠 headdress is homophone of guan - 官 - "official title" and the jue cup is homophone of jue - 爵 - "official high rank", our bitong decoration communicates the message "jia guan jin jue - 加官晋爵".