Chinese
Nine Tripod Cauldrons
九鼎
The legitimacy to rule all under heaven. They rest with dynasties of virtue.
VesselFirst recorded c. 400 BCE
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Photograph: A mid-eighteenth-century porcelain vase from Jingdezhen, China, painted in overglaze enamels. Branches with nine pink peaches are painted on a white ground.
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2,251 × 3,000 PX2251×3000
ArchiveChinese · Elixir
Peaches of Immortality
蟠桃
Fruiting once in three thousand years, they make those who eat them immortal and ageless.
- Owner
- Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West
- Maker
- The orchard of Xiwangmu
- First record
- Han Wu Gushi300
- Gallery
- Chinese
Notes on the photograph 3
Story
Xiwangmu, goddess of Mount Kunlun, grows peaches of immortality. In the Han Wu Gushi, she visits Emperor Wu of Han and shares her peaches; when the emperor tries to plant the stones, she laughs and says they fruit only once in three thousand years.
In Journey to the West the Jade Emperor puts Sun Wukong in charge of the peach orchard. The peaches ripen in three varieties, once every three, six or nine thousand years, and those who eat the ripe fruit become immortals or live as long as heaven and earth.
Learning he had not been invited to the banquet, Sun Wukong devoured all the peaches, setting off a great uproar in heaven.
The object in the photo
The photograph shows Vase with nine peaches(China, mid-18th century), a real museum object that evokes the legendary artifact.
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