Of globular form with a curved spout and loop handle, the teapot is decorated in rich cobalt blue tones with a garden scene. Two elegant ladies stand in conversation beneath a willow tree, beside a balustrade and a garden pavilion, the landscape extending around the body. The domed cover, surmounted by a bud-shaped finial, is painted with stylised floral scrolls and a band of key-fret motifs.The teapot bears to the base an apocryphal six-character Jiajing reign mark.
The subject most probably refers to an episode from The Romance of the Western Chamber (Xixiang Ji 西廂記), the famous Yuan-dynasty play written by Wang Shifu, which remained immensely popular under the Ming and Qing dynasties.
In this literary masterpiece, the young scholar Zhang Sheng falls in love with the beautiful Cui Yingying, whom he meets while lodging at a monastery. Aiding their secret encounters is Yingying’s clever maid, Hongniang, who became an enduring emblem of romantic devotion and female intelligence in Chinese art and theatre.
