A closely related vase in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming, vol. 5, Taipei, 1963, pl. 4; one from the Harry Oppenheim collection and now in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Chinese Ceramics, London, 2001, pl. 9:35; another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is published in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, pl. 166; and a fourth vase, from the Huaihaitang collection, was included in the exhibition Enlightening Elegance, op. cit., cat. no. 64.

Double gourd-shaped bottle with underglaze blue decoration, Ming dynasty, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566). Height: 44.5 centimetres. Diameter: 23 centimetres (maximum). Harry Oppenheim collection, 1947,0712.212 © Trustees of the British Museum

This bottle is modelled in the form of a double gourd with a larger lower and smaller upper bulb standing on a high gently flared foot and with a narrow cylindrical neck and waist. Emblems of longevity, such as the lingzhi fungus, the crane, the peach, the character 'shou' [long life] and the deer, and symbols of good fortune, such as the wart-backed toad, are painted together with the Three Friends of Winter (pine, bamboo and prunus) in a vivid underglaze blue. The neck and foot are further decorated with scrolls. On the base is a six-character Jiajing reign mark.

Gourd-Shaped Bottle with Deer and Crane in Landscape, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Jiajing mark and period (1522–66). Porcelain painted in cobalt blue under clear glaze (Jingdezhen ware). H. 18 in. (45.7 cm); Diam. 9 3/4 in. (24.8 cm); The Metropolitan Museum of Art 65.56.2 © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.