Famille-rose Statue of Drunken Zhongkui

Zhongkui is a legendary character in China. In this statue, he is sitting against rocks and wearing a soft black hat, a red ceremonial robe with golden lines as well as dragon and cloud patterns, a yellow silk sash and black boots with white soles. His left arm is resting against a wine jar that imitates an imperial style of the Song dynasty (960-1279). The right hand is holding a cup. Zhongkui’s closed eyes reveal that he is drunk and enjoying himself. At his back is a red bottle with bat patterns (a design that means good fortune since its Chinese pronunciation,fu, is the same as happiness). On the back of the pile of rocks are four incised characters in regular script (kai shu), reading “made in the Kangxi era” (Kangxi nian zhi). The figure is vivid, while the glaze is natural and elegant.
In antiquity, people originally thought that Zhongkui with his ferocious appearance always used a sharp sword to catch ghosts. In later periods, Zhongkui became a god for riches and good fortune. This figure is different from the usual Zhongkui image. It is amiable and humorous. Because three-colored porcelain statues were the main stream during the Qing dynasty, Zhongkui’s statue with famille rose is a rarity. This is one of the finest of the Kangxi colored porcelains.
The Qing court considered Zhongkui a God of the Storehouse. This porcelain statue was lost from the imperial palace in the late Qing dynasty. It was found at an antique shop in Beijing’s Longfu Monastery and returned to the Palace Museum.