Teapot with Red-Crowned Cranes

My mother acquired this teapot during the year she spent in Beijing in the early 1930's. I'm so familiar with it that I hadn't focused on the cranes as such until today, when we served iced tea to to old friends from California.

Red-crowned cranes are also known as Japanese or Manchurian cranes (Grus japonensis is their scientific name). Very rare, they are found in China, Japan and also in eastern Russia. To varying degrees, they are known as symbols of "luck, longevity and fidelity." I've led a pretty good life; perhaps this pot has had a little bit to do with it.

Marylee and I have not seen these cranes; we've only seen sandhills, whooping cranes, and (most recently) Europe's common crane.