Large Cobalt Blue Chinese Ceramic Elephant Garden Seat Plant Stand Shou Bats

PRODUCT DETAILS

• Material: Press-moulded and hand-glazed stoneware/earthenware; thick cobalt glaze over a buff-grey body, with buff crackle-glazed reserves, olive-celadon crackle seat top, and iron-red enamel details

• Dimensions: Approx. 22 in H x 16 in L x 9.5 in D; seat platform approx. 7.5 x 7.5 in

• Color/Finish: Deep cobalt blue body glaze with buff crackle reserves, olive-celadon crackle seat top, black seal-script shou characters, blue ruyi-cloud scrollwork, and iron-red-and-white bat (fu) motifs

• Condition: Good, with honest wear. No breaks, cracks, or restoration visible. The cobalt glaze is glossy and intact. There is a small glaze chip at the base of one tusk exposing the buff body, scattered nibbles along the lower plinth edge, and light rubbing to the raised bands. The buff and olive reserves show an as-fired crackle glaze, not damage. The unglazed base is soiled with orange-red clay flashing.

• Era/Period: Mid-20th century, most likely circa 1950-1975. This is not a 19th-century piece.

• Subject: A standing caparisoned elephant garden seat and plant stand with trunk raised, decorated with the Chinese fu-shou "blessings and longevity" rebus - a shou (longevity) roundel and four bats at the seat's center corners, plus archaic shou characters and ruyi-cloud scrollwork on the saddle-cloth and plinth. The piece is unmarked, with no maker's stamp, seal, or label, consistent with mid-20th-century Chinese export pottery made for the American decorative trade rather than an antique or a Vietnamese Bien Hoa piece.

This is a large, solidly built garden seat at 22 inches tall, with a glossy, unworn cobalt glaze and no cracks or repairs anywhere on the piece. The raised-trunk pose and the shou-and-bats roundel on the seat top are the traditional "good luck" motifs collectors of Chinese garden seats look for, and the scale and condition here put it ahead of the smaller, more worn examples typically seen on the market. It works equally well as an entry-hall stand, plant pedestal, or side table base.