Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Unknown
A Pair of Chinese Blue and White Table Lamps "Phoenix Tail" or "Yen Yen" Vases

Late 19th century

About the Item

Chinese Blue and White Table Lamps "Phoenix Tail" or "Yen Yen" Vases With "Double Happiness" Characters with sweet pea designs Late 19th/early 20th century 35 1/2 inches with harps Painted in a striking cobalt blue against a white ground, these Yen Yen or Fengwei Zun style vases feature the Double Happiness symbols. Double Happiness sometimes translated as Double Happy, is a Chinese traditional ornament design, commonly used as a decoration symbol of marriage. Double Happiness is a large Chinese character which is comprised of two connected copies of the character for happiness. The double happiness symbol dates back to the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, there was a student on his way to the capital to take an examination, after which the top scorers would be selected as ministers of the court. Unfortunately, the student fell ill along the way as he passed through a mountain village. But thankfully, an herbalist and his daughter took him to their house and expertly treated him. The student recovered quickly because of their good care. However, when the time came for him to leave, he found it hard to say goodbye to the herbalist's daughter, and so did she—they had fallen in love with each other. The young man ended up scoring highest in the examination. The emperor recognized his intellect and appointed the young man as a minister of the court. Before beginning the position, however, the student was allowed to pay a visit to his hometown. He ran back to the herbalist's daughter and they soon wed, and during the ceremony, they doubled the Chinese character for "happy" on a red piece of paper and placed it on the wall. It is also common for people to gift the symbol to a couple to bestow upon them a blessing of good luck for their marriage. In all of these contexts, the Double Happiness symbol represents joy and unity and is a commonly seen Feng Shui enhancer for love, romance and luck for the married couple.
  • Creation Year:
    Late 19th century
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 35.5 in (90.17 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)Depth: 9 in (22.86 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    This pair of Chinese Blue and White vases are in very good condition. As antiques, there are small nicks and fritz to the rims of the vases with one small piece missing from the, carved wood stands. Unlike most examples, the painting is very crisp.
  • Gallery Location:
    SANTA FE, NM
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU140826916342
More From This SellerView All
  • Pair of Antique Hand Painted Chinese Jars With Foo Dogs and Inscriptions
    Located in SANTA FE, NM
    Pair of Antique Hand Painted Chinese Vases with Foo Dogs and Inscriptions China, early 20th century Porcelain 17 x 8 x 8 inches Painted in iron red, these Foo Dogs or Imperial Guardian Lions are strong Feng Shui protection symbols which were traditionally placed in front of Imperial palaces, temples, and government offices. They were also a traditional symbol of family wealth and social status and were placed in front of wealthy homes. It is widely accepted that foo dogs were created sometime after real lions...
    Category

    Early 20th Century Qing More Art

    Materials

    Porcelain, Paint

  • Pair of English Porcelain Vases with Insects from John Mortlock circa 1875
    Located in SANTA FE, NM
    Pair of Vases with Parcel Gilt  Insects England, John Mortlock circa 1875 Porcelain with gold leaf 15 inches   The firm of Mortlock began business in 174...
    Category

    1870s Victorian More Art

    Materials

    Gold, Enamel

  • Fine & Very Large Belle Epoque Porcelain and Enamel Elephant, France circa 1900
    Located in SANTA FE, NM
    Very Large Porcelain Elephant France, circa 1900 Porcelain, enamels 28 x 14 1/2 x 9 inches
    Category

    Early 1900s Art Nouveau Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Gold, Enamel

  • Antique Portrait of 6 Dogs on Porcelain by Maison Pichenot-Loebnitz ca. 1870s
    Located in SANTA FE, NM
    Antique and exceptionally rare and fine Portrait of 6 Dogs on Enameled Ceramic Maison Pichenot-Loebnitz France, ca. 1870. 25 x 8 (31 x 13 framed) inches This rectangular panel made of enameled ceramic was made by Jules Loebnitz in the second half of the 19th century depicts a suite of 6 very fine canines in a landscape setting. The Pichenot-Loebnitz factory was founded by Mr Pichenot, grandfather of Jules Loebnitz, in 1833. From 1841, Mr Pichenot created a new, innovative method of uncrackable earthenware panels for architectural mantels, winning a medal at the Exhibition of 1844. In 1857, Jules Loebnitz, an artist as much as an industrialist, became director of the factory. For his first major job, Loebnitz passionately collaborated with architect Félix Duban on the restoration of the Blois Castle, recreating the antique tiles of the mantelpieces. He then went to work with the most prominent architects of his times; Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Laval, Charles Garnier, Just Lisch and Paul Sédille. A friendship was born in 1867 between Paul Sédille, the architect of the Printemps department stores and the Basilica of Bois-Chenu in Domrémy-la-Pucelle, and Jules Loebnitz that would lead to a tight, long-lasting professional, artistic, and intellectual collaboration. This was an important meeting between the theorist of polychrome architecture and the man who had pushed French ceramic art considerably forward, allowing for large, enameled earthenware plates decorated with very bright and long-lasting glass-like colors. Many architectural projects were born from the collaboration of Sédille and Loebnitz: World’s fair pavilions, apartment buildings, villas, hotels, and monuments. During the Great Exhibition of 1878, Paul Sédille created the door of the Palais des Beaux-arts, while Jules Loebnitz was in charge of the ceramic decoration of the facade. A reporter covering the 1878 World’s fair described the monumental door...
    Category

    1870s French School Animal Paintings

    Materials

    Enamel

  • Antique Porcelain Dog Portrait Cavalier King Charles-Edmé Samson circa 1860
    Located in SANTA FE, NM
    Antique Porcelain Dog Portrait: Cavalier King Charles-Edmé Samson According to the model created by Johann Joachim Kaendler (MEISSEN around 1770). By the famous factory of Edmé Sams...
    Category

    Mid-19th Century Rococo Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Porcelain

  • Pair of Japanese Buddhist, Meiji Period Foo-Dogs from the Satsuma Kilns, 19th C.
    Located in SANTA FE, NM
    Pair of Buddhist Foo Dogs Polychrome porcelain Japan, Meiji era (1868 – 1912), circa late 19th century Satsuma Kilns 12 3/8 x 9 5/8 inches This exquisite pair of Japanese Foo-dogs ...
    Category

    Late 19th Century Other Art Style Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Porcelain

You May Also Like
  • Large Blanc de Chine Figure Of Guanyin
    Located in Delray Beach, FL
    Large 35" tall, fine detail porcelain Dehua Blanc de Chine figure of Kwan Yin, early 20th Century. The goddess is clothed in a voluminous flowing robe which is open at the chest to r...
    Category

    1920s Qing Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Porcelain

  • 19th Century Chinese Dragon Glazed Ceramic Planter
    Located in Troy, NY
    This 19th century Chinese jardiniere features dragons in different shades of glazed earth tones and a turquoise glaze on the inside. It has good balance and a pleasing silhouette; it...
    Category

    19th Century Qing More Art

    Materials

    Ceramic, Glaze

  • "JAMÓN JAMÓN I (Reliquary Generalife)", ceramic sculpture, porcelain vessel, urn
    By Andrew Cornell Robinson
    Located in Toronto, Ontario
    "JAMÓN JAMÓN I (Reliquary Generalife)", 2019, sold in the frame shown, is one in a series of ceramic sculptures by artist Andrew Cornell Robinson...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Enamel

  • Sheep
    Located in New York, NY
    Hung Yi was born in Taichung, Taiwan in 1970. The artist’s works are inspired by Taiwanese culture or day-to-day life in Taiwan. In the 1990s, it was popular among artists in Taiw...
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Enamel, Steel, Stainless Steel

  • Panda Uan Zai
    Located in New York, NY
    a sculpture by Hing Yi
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Enamel, Steel, Stainless Steel

  • Puppy
    By Jeff Koons
    Located in Toronto, Ontario
    We’re big fans of Jeff Koon’s famously optimistic, kitschy and celebratory approach to contemporary pop art. We’ve offered a number of Koon’s humorous and playful works before, and...
    Category

    1990s Contemporary Sculptures

    Materials

    Enamel

Recently Viewed

View All