Covered Jar Decorated with Prunus and the "Hundred Antiquities" Motif

Called “ginger jars” in the West because they were often used to export preserved Chinese ginger, such jars were used more generally as food containers in China. This example is decorated with a plum blossom design and complex array of auspicious symbols dominated by the “hundred antiquities” (bǎigǔtú 百古圖) motif. These accouterments of an ideal, scholarly life include books, scrolls, vases, bronze vessels, and a stringed instrument called a gǔqín 古琴, as well as other objects with lucky associations.