An elegant and big Chinese 'Double Happiness' blue and white porcelain lidded ginger jar. China, 19th century, Qing dynasty (大清), Tongzhi (1862-1874, 同治) period. These jars with original covers are really unique, usually lids are missing, sometimes replaced with wooden ones. Painted to the exterior with three Shou (Double Happiness, shuangxi) symbols on ground of dense flowers and scrolls of sweet pea vines. Geometrical band on the shoulder. The cover with single Shou symbol on sweet-pea vines. Dimensions: height with cover - 21,8 cm; without cover - 19,9 cm; diameter - c. 10,5 cm. Weight with cover - 1726 g; without - 1571 g. References - pair of vases with same decoration sold on Catawiki (last picture). Daylight pictures included. Provenance: German private collection, Hamburg. The "double happiness mark" is usually understood to mean "wedded bliss". The shuangxi symbol is until today typically found on items used in relation to Chinese weddings. It have raised to popularity around the the Tongzhi Emperors wedding in 1872. This wedding was an occasion of unique historical significance at the time, since this was the first Imperial wedding after the period of Kangxi over 200 years earlier. The special wedding porcelain that was ordered included at least one order of 7,294 porcelain pieces of which a large number had decorations that incorporated a double xi symbol. The shuangxi symbol was also used on innumerable other wedding implements. On porcelain it's most commonly met with on round and lidded "Ginger Jars" where the shuangxi symbol, often occurs three times and is surrounded by sweet pea wines symbolizing "many children" and "forever". Conditions report: jar in excellent condition with small chip to the foot-rim only. Use related scratches to the glaze. Minor firing faults, to include typical for jars glaze-star-hairlines inside, not going through. Cover with few frits only. Tested with a strong white light. Check pictures for details. Worldwide delivery with online tracking. Delivery in EU by courier only. We ship to China and Far East with Polish Post or courier company. If possible we combine deliveries. Buy more, pay for one shipment only! Item will be carefully packed to avoid any damages. In continental UE we ship by courier only!