Rectangular in section jade vase, with sides tapering to the foot, recessed within which is a smaller base, and tapering in a curve from the angular shoulder to the mouth rim, which is finished flat; having on either side of the shoulder a pair of thin, flat, loop handles; the cover square, and tapering in two stages to a projecting, hollow, rectangular knob ringed by two ribs. The sides decorated with a design engraved and gilt, depicting an aged pine tree, symbolising long life, and on another face, rocks, a flowering chrysanthemum and a bat, symbolic of happiness; with branches of the tree arranged to conceal fissures in the stone; on the cover, four more bats. On the neck, an engraved and gilt inscription in lishu (clerical script). The low wood stand supporting the foot with an inset panel, an apron carved with scrollwork and four corner feet.

[鄒一桂松菊圖]
蒼官壽客結好友
白石青莎依秀原
廣群芳中誰冠冕
兩先生實賁邱園
臨風聼擬濤湔俗
裛露餐餘英雪煩
疑是歸來三徑日
陶家高致喜猶存

[Zou Yigui Songju tu]
Cangguan shouke jie haoyou
Baishi qingsha yi xiuyuan
Guangqunfang zhong shui guanmian
Liang xiansheng shi bi Qiuyuan
Linfeng ting ni tao jian su
Yilu canyu ying xuefan
Yi shi guilai sanjing ri
Tao jia gaozhi xi you cun
[Pine and chrysanthemum by Zou Yigui]

Pine and chrysanthemum, united as close friends,
White rock and verdant sedge, innate beauty in common accord.
Amongst the numerous worthies who holds the crown?
Truly the two gentlemen have a resplendent rustic home.
Against the wind, waves can be heard, washing away the
commonplace,
Atop the flowers, a surplus of dew, most attractive, dispels
melancholy.
Could this be the day to return to the hermit’s garden home?
The flawless taste of Tao Yuanming happily still endures

This poem, once inscribed by the Emperor on a painting by the Qing dynasty artist Zou Yigui (1686–1772), entitled 松菊圖 Songju tu (‘Pine and chrysanthemum’) (the subject of the image on the vase), appears under this name in the Belle-lettres treasury of the Siku quanshu (‘Complete Library of the Four Treasuries’) in part two, chapter 41 of the section dedicated to imperial poems.

Text adapted from Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen: Volume III.