Positioned squarely in the middle of the museum gallery, the monumental blue-and-white vase has an aura that is undeniably imperial. Inscribed with precisely 10,000 characters, all but one of which are variations of shou（壽）—which means longevity, the vase is emphatically auspicious. These shou characters appear in three sizes. While the large and mid-sized characters vary in design, some small characters are written in identical style. More interestingly, the arrangement, selection, and variation of the small characters follow some sort of pattern. The auspicious meaning of the vase is further enhanced by the fact that the one exceptional character—not of shou—turns out to be wan（萬）, which means ‘ten thousand’. Height: 30" Diameter (body): 17.5"