Here for your consideration is an exquisite, antique, mid 19th century, circa 1850, Chinese pottery, cerulean blue, "lucky" Stone Monkey King, depicted holding one of Xi Wangmu's peaches of immortality, from the Queen of Heaven's celestial garden, and made during the Qing Dynasty. 

The colour and patination of this Stone Monkey King is absolutely stunning. It's beautifully decorated and sharply engraved with striking cerulean colouring. The workmanship that's gone into this Monkey king pottery ornament, is superb and the colour and patina over the years, has just added to this exquisite little ornament. 

Condition: no cracks, scratches, chips or damage. It does have a tiny glazing fleabite from kiln firing, and some age-related patina base wear, commensurate with its 165 years of age, but nothing unusual.

Qing Dynasty ...

This delightful pottery monkey was made during the reign of the Emperor Xianfeng (Yizhu) 1850-1861 (part of the Qing dynasty). Son of Emperor Daoguang. During his reign the Qing dynasty slowly began to decline, also the well-known Taiping Rebellion broke out. Monkeys have an indissoluble bond with peaches, and wild monkeys are fond of eating peaches. The peach has two symbolic meanings in Chinese culture, one is longevity, and the other is exorcising evil spirits. The Chinese fiction, "Into the West", written by Wu Cheng'en (1500-1582) of the Ming Dynasty, records the story of the Monkey King.

Monkey King ...

According to the legend, Sun Wukong, or Monkey King, was born from a magic stone that sat on the top of a mountain, that had been receiving the powers of the heavens and the earth since the beginning of time. The stone developed a magic womb, which produced a stone egg.

When the wind blew on this egg it turned into a stone monkey. When the stone monkey came out, he bowed to each of the four quarters, as his eyes moved, two beams of golden light shot towards the Pole Star palace and startled the Supreme Heavenly Sage, the Jade Emperor of the Azure Vault of Heaven, who was sitting surrounded by his immortal ministers on his throne in the Hall of Miraculous Mist in the Golden-gated Cloud Palace. When he saw the dazzling golden light he ordered Thousand-mile Eye and Wind-accompanying Ear to open the Southern Gate of Heaven and take a look.

“In obedience to the Imperial Mandate, your subjects observed the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. A stone monkey which bowed to each of the four quarters. When he moved his eyes, golden light shot towards the Pole Star Palace; but now that he is eating and drinking, the golden light is gradually dying.” In his benevolence and mercy, the Jade Emperor said, “there is nothing remarkable about him.”

At the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, Monkey King established himself as one of the most powerful and influential demons in the world. In search of a weapon worthy of himself, Monkey King travelled into the oceans, where he acquired the Golden-banded staff Ruyi Jingu Bang, which could change size, multiply itself, and fight according to the whim of its master. Monkey King then defied Hell's attempt to collect his soul. Instead of reincarnating like all other living beings, he wiped his name out of the "Book of Life and Death" and with it the names of all other monkeys known to him. The Dragon Kings and the Kings of Hell decided to report him to the Jade Emperor of Heaven.

Hoping that a promotion and a rank amongst the gods would make him more manageable, the Jade Emperor invited Monkey King to Heaven, where Monkey King believed he would receive an honourable place as one of the gods. Instead, he was made the Protector of the Horses to watch over the stables, which was the lowest job in heaven. When he discovered this, Monkey King rebelled and proclaimed himself the "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven". He then got revenge by setting the Cloud Horses free. The Heavens' initial attempt at subduing Monkey King was unsuccessful, and they were forced to recognize his title, however, they tried again to put him off as the guardian of the Heavenly Garden. When he found that he was excluded from a royal banquet that included every other important god and goddess, Monkey King's indignation again turned to open defiance. After stealing and consuming Xi Wangmu's "peaches of immortality", he escaped back to his kingdom in preparation for his rebellion.

Monkey King later single-handedly defeated the Army of Heaven's 100,000 celestial warriors. Eventually, through the teamwork of Taoist and Buddhist forces, including the efforts of some of the greatest deities, Monkey King was captured. After several failed attempts at execution, Monkey King was locked into a trigram cubicle to be distilled into an elixir. After 49 days, however, when the cauldron was opened, Monkey King jumped out, stronger than ever before. He now had the ability to recognize evil in any form through his golden-gaze fiery-eyes, an eye condition that also gave him a weakness to smoke, he then proceeded to destroy Heaven's remaining forces.

With all of their options exhausted, the Jade Emperor and the authorities of Heaven appealed to the Buddha, who arrived from his temple in the West. The Buddha made a bet with Monkey King that he could not escape from the Buddha's palm. Monkey King, knowing that he could cover 108,000 miles in one leap, smugly agreed. He took a great leap and then flew to the end of the world in seconds. Nothing was visible except for five pillars, and Monkey King surmised that he had reached the ends of Heaven. To prove his trail, he marked the pillars with a phrase declaring himself "the great sage equal to heaven" (urinating on the pillar he signed). Afterwards, he leapt back and landed in the Buddha's palm. There, he was surprised to find that the five "pillars" he had found were, in fact, the five fingers of the Buddha's hand. When Monkey King tried to escape, the Buddha turned his hand into a mountain. Before Monkey King could shrug it off, the Buddha sealed him there using a paper talisman on which was written the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum in gold letters, wherein Monkey King remained imprisoned for five centuries.

Five centuries later, the Bodhisattva Guanyin went out in search for disciples who could protect a pilgrim from the East to journey to India to retrieve the Buddhist sutras. In hearing this, Monkey King offered to serve this pilgrim, Xuanzang, a monk of the Tang Dynasty, in exchange for his freedom after the pilgrimage was complete. Guanyin understood that Monkey King would be hard to control, and therefore gave Xuanzang a gift from the Buddha, a magical headband which, once Monkey King was tricked into putting it on himself, could never be removed. With a special chant, the band would tighten and cause unbearable pain to Monkey King's head. To be fair, Guanyin also gave Monkey King three special hairs, which could be used in dire emergencies. Under Xuanzang's supervision, Monkey King was allowed to journey to the West.

Throughout the epic novel "Journey to the West" Monkey King faithfully helps Xuanzang on his journey to India. They are joined by "Pigsy" and "Sandy" both of whom offered to accompany the priest in order to atone for their previous crimes. It was later revealed that the priest's horse was, in fact, a dragon prince. Xuanzang's safety was constantly under threat from demons and other supernatural beings (some who believed that his flesh, once consumed, would bring them longevity, and others who did not want him to succeed with his quest to obtain the scriptures, as well as from bandits, so Monkey King often acted as his bodyguard and was given free access to the powers of Heaven to combat these threats. The group encountered a series of eighty-one tribulations before accomplishing their mission and returning safely to China. There, Monkey King was finally granted Buddhahood for his service and strength.

Dimensions as follows ...

Height: 5 inches or 12.7 cm

Length: 4.25 inches or 11 cm

Depth: 3.5 inches or 9 cm

Weight: 483 grams or 1lb 10 oz

This is as good as it gets with regards, Chinese Qing Dynasty antiques, it's all original.... how many of these have you seen, still intact and undamaged.

You might never find another one, and if there's one thing I've learned about antiques when items are of quality and extremely rare he who hesitates usually loses out. This rare Monkey King ornament would add value to any Chinese collection. A real must for any serious collector.

These very rare, Qing dynasty, Monkey King and immortal peach ornaments, have become very sought-after/collectable.... and are appreciating in value.

This would make an ideal gift or a solid future investment. The cerulean blue Monkey King ornament will be sent out recorded, special delivery with insurance.

Please note, all my international postal charges are only estimates and will be confirmed and altered up or down when I know the destination of where items are being sent. Please also note, I only charge actual costs of postage and packaging with insurance, no more.

Please feel free to look at my other items.