To spread understanding about the beauty of ancient Chinese artifacts, Chunghwa Post is issuing a set of four stamps and a souvenir sheet on ancient articrafts from the National Palace Museum collection. Two of the stamps have denominations of NT$5.00, and two denominations of NT$12.00. The souvenir sheet consists of the 4 above-mentioned stamps. The designs follow:1. A Pair of Gold Gourds, Qing Dynasty, 18th Century (NT$5.00): The surface of these gold bottle gourds features a lacy design of intertwining flowers, leaves and tiny bottle gourds. There are three leaves sticking out from the stem of each gourd. These gourds have two detachable parts. The upper parts fit over lips at the tops of the lower sections. In Chinese, larger fruits produced by vines are called gua, whereas smaller fruits of vines are called die. Because the bottle gourd continually fruits and flowers, it is associated with the Chinese expression “mian mian gua die,” which is used to describe a family with abundant descendants.2. Gold Bowl Used Personally by the Qianlong Emperor, Qing Dynasty (1736-1795) (NT$5.00): The interior of the bowl is smooth and unadorned, while the exterior is densely embellished with small millet-shaped beads set into a pattern of pomegranates, flowers, and leaves. The result is dazzling and exuberant. On the bottom, inside the ring foot, there are four traced-standard-script characters carved in intaglio: Qianlong Yuyong (“for the personal use of Emperor Qianlong”). 3. Mughal Empire Large Round Urn with Inlay Ca. 17th-18th Century (NT$12.00): The body of the urn is covered with hexagonal plates of bluish white jade. Metal wire inlay may have been present originally between the jade pieces although no trace remains. The jade pieces are inlaid with rubies, emeralds, topazes and brown gemstones set in gold wire. 4. Gilt Ewer with Cloud and Dragon Decor, Qing Dynasty (NT$12.00): This pot, in the shape of a bottle gourd, has a long spout and a long handle, to which the lid is chained. Four seal script characters—wan shou wu jiang (“may you live forever”)—and dragons are carved in relief on the belly of the gourd. The Chinese words for bottle gourd (hulu) sound similar to the words for good fortune and prosperity (fu lu). Consequently, a gourd bearing the four characters described above conveys the idea of “good fortune, prosperity and longevity” (“fu lu shou”), three words that are commonly regarded as life’s greatest blessings in Chinese culture. This was an imperial wine vessel used by Qing Dynasty emperors.