Polychrome enameled porcelain “gu” shaped vase, ‘wucai’ type, on the upper part, King
Wen of the Zhou accompanied by mandarins meeting Jiang Ziya on the banks of the
Weishui river while fishing with a rod with a too short line and a straight hook. The central
part decorated with chrysanthemums, the lower part with longevity peaches. The inside
adorned with flowers.
H 53,5 cm
(Restorations on the edge)
This is a subject from the Ming period novel. The Investiture of the Gods, in which King
Wen once met Jiang Ziya, a man who had studied for seventy-two years with an immortal.
Jiang Ziya spent his days fishing by a river, using a perfectly straight hook and no bait,
which astonished everyone. When asked what he hoped to catch, he simply replied: “A king
and his vassals”. The future king Wen of Zhou heard of this strange behavior and decided
to visit Jiang Ziya in person. The latter asked him to pull his cart. The king complied and
stopped after eight hundred paces. Jiang Ziya told him: “You will become king, and your
dynasty will last eight hundred years”. The king tried to pull the cart a little further, but,
exhausted, he was unable to do so. He then appointed Jiang Ziya as his prime minister.
