Notes:
The eight horses represented on this jardinière refer to the 'Eight Horses of Mu Wang'; a popular motif in Chinese ceramic design from at least the Ming dynasty. King Mu was the fifth ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in the 10th century BC. Though a real historical figure, he also features in Chinese mythology and stories including the historical romance 'Mu Tianzi Zhuan' (Biography of King Mu, Son of Heaven) written by Yang Yi during the Ming dynasty. The narrative follows the journey of King Mu as he seeks the Western Heavenly Paradise of the Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wangmu), where he hopes to taste the peaches of immortality that grow there and become an immortal being himself. He is assisted by a charioteer called Zaofu, whose chariot is drawn by eight remarkable horses. These horses were supposedly named after their respective colours, but other accounts and retellings of the story, such as the Shiyiji ('Records of picked-up leftovers'), compiled by the Taoist scholar Wang Jia in the 4th century, suggest that they were instead named according to their abilities. Reportedly, the horses all had unique talents, such as running as fast as the shadow of the sun or flying birds, riding on a cloud or going so fast that one sees a row of ten horses instead of one.
The combination within this design of the Horses of Mu with crane, deer and pine further alludes to longevity, one of the central themes of Daoist teaching. According to Daoist belief, deer are the only animal able to find and consume lingzhi, fungi of immortality. As the Chinese word (‘lu’) is homophonous with the term for an official’s salary, deer are also a symbol of prosperity and wealth. Meanwhile, the pine, evergreen and long-living, is often paired in paintings and ceramic design with crane, which are in turn associated with Shoulao, the god of longevity. The immortal crane (xian he) is said to live for thousands of years and to act as messenger between the earthly and heavenly realms where the Daoist deities reside. The combination of longevity motifs and visual reference to Wang Mu, who according to the 'Mu Tianzi Zhuan' successfully reaches the Western Heavenly Paradise and has a banquet and engages in an exchange of poetry with Xi Wangmu, result in an overall design rich in the auspicious symbolism of prosperity and long life.
