A CHINESE BRONZE EWER.Ming Dynasty, Jiajing Dynasty.The pear-shaped body rising from a tall spreading foot to a narrow waisted neck and straight rim, the spout and handles with nodular bands in simulation of bamboo stem, the body cast with two tear-shaped panels enclosing a shou and fu character, above a linked-coins band, there is a lappet band above the foot, and a band of pierced four petaled flower heads to the foot.27cm H.976g.明嘉靖 銅福壽執壺 The ewer may be dated from related examples in ceramics. For a longquan celadon vase with a body of similar form, also decorated with a fu and shou character see Longquan Celadons – The Sichuan Museum Collection, Macau, 1998, pp. 170-1 and also Chinese Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 255, no. 240. For a closely related bronze ewer see Michael Goedhuis, Shimizu Oriental Art Ltd, The Gilding of the Lily: An Exhibition of the Divine Vessels of Japanese Flower Arranging, 1986, cat no 17.