Monthly Archives: December 2013

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landscape with river
landscape with river

Here the Mahjong bone and bamboo Flower tiles are properly oriented in 1234 positions. A river is shown flowing through beautiful mountainous terrain. The Chinese character for mountain is seen on tile 2. Often Flower tiles show beautiful places in China. I love the details seen on the structure, including the stonework, the keystone on top of the arch and the roof supports. Remember these tiles are only an inch tall, so this is truly detailed carving.

Ray Heaton translated the tiles seen above, and they mean one of two things:

"Either "Green Hills Live Forever" or "Blue Mountains Live Forever".  The words for Green and Blue are the same, as is Hill and Mountain.  I think the full translation would be "May you live forever just as the Green Hills"... it seems Green Hills are associated more to a wish for a long life than Blue Mountains, but I suspect they're pretty much interchangeable!"

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Ruyi and flowers
Ruyi and flowers

The strange shape seen in each of these Mahjong tiles is a fungus known as lingzhi. The lingzhi is known as the herb of immortality. The lingzhi resembles the head of a scepter, ruyi,  (seen here in wikipedia ). Michael Stanwick notes that the scepter was actually modeled after the fungus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MS-SchnitzlackRuyiSzepter18Jh.JPG

The scepter, a symbol of nobility, also means "according to your wishes" thus the fungus means that too. (Patricia Bjaaland Welch, Chinese Art A guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery). Michael Stanwick adds "The fungus symbolism was transferred to the scepter and the scepter was often given to old men of renown or people of note. The idea being, I think, to confer longevity onto the recipient."

The fungus is seen with different plants, with two different plant groupings representing the four seasons:

top row: peony (spring) lotus (summer) the next tile may be grapes or a reader has suggested it may be a stylized chrysanthemum (autumn) and either a narcissus or camellia (winter)

bottom row: Plum (winter) orchid (spring) bamboo (summer) chrysanthemum (fall)

I have found while researching that some plants and flowers fall into two different seasons, but here the bottom row is the grouping of four plants, plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum known as the "four gentlemen" in Chinese art. Patricia Bjaaland Welch's book Chinese Art  A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery is an excellent resource for understanding symbolism on the tiles.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article referring to the four gentlemen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Gentlemen

 

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folk art Flowers
folk art Flowers

These delightful Mahjong Flowers seem like folk art to me. They are well carved, but the images are very simple. Although it is hard to know exactly what birds and bugs are seen on the tiles, there is a very faintly visible butterfly on the Red 1, more visible on the Red 2. Birds appear on the Blue 1 and 3 and Red 3 and perhaps 4. I must confess, I love the Blue and Red 4s, although I have no idea what insects or creatures they are!

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Chinese hawk
Chinese hawk

Most people would not think there is a great deal of symbolism behind this image. To many it looks like a hawk on top of a cage. It actually is a hawk on top of a globe of the world.  The ribbon in the bird's mouth signifies military strength and the tile represents China's power in the world. Propaganda, both in images and in words, frequently appears on Mahjong tiles.

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This is one of my favorite mass-produced Chinese Bakelite Mahjong sets. I like to call it the Talking Hawk One Bam because of the comic-book like talk bubble coming from the hawk's mouth, translated as a wish for good fortune and longevity. The One Dots resemble flowers within flowers, and the other dots are a much more simplified flower. The Craks are elaborate Wans, and the Bams are rounded. The Red and Green Dragons are the Chinese character Chung (center) and Fa (prosperity). The White Dragon resembles a frame decorated with meanders (abstract patterns).

Notice how the upper level of Flower tiles reads correctly with tiles 4321. The boat would not be recognizable without this orientation, and the wall only works this way too. For the lower tiles, the order does not make a difference. The lower tiles have the four important flowers: plum blossom, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, shown as if they are growing outside the windows. The bottom row of Flowers probably represents some of the ladies in the Twelve Beauties of Jinling (also known as Dream of the Red Mansion  or Dream of the Red Chamber), a tale familiar to most Chinese.

 

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I was really lucky: I bought this Fulton Specialty Company Mahjong set for $8.50 on ebay. The graphics on this wood set are delightful and rank among some of the best designs I have seen. I love the One and Two! Bams, and the others as well. A lot of thought went into the designs for all the tiles, and they are different from what we usually see, including the placement of the dots and Bams on each tile.  The two colors used for the Craks confused me at first; when I received the set and was trying to lay out the suits to figure out what everything was, I could not find the low number Craks. The Chinese numbers were so stylized I did not recognize them! The Craks were painted with two different colors, adding to the unusual appearance. A coating of green paint was placed on the backs of the tiles, giving them a two-tone look. (I think the 4 Crak is upside down-sorry!)

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Notice the number 2 is in the center of the circles, the arrangement of the other circles, and the Bams.

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Aren't these dragons fabulous!

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I love these cranes. (Cranes are symbols for longevity)

 

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Colorful counting sticks are part of the set.

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This great dragon is on the box top.

Thanks to CHarli's website for helping me to identify this set.

www.13orphans.com

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DSC_0349This delightful hand carved Mahjong set comes in a wood box with a sliding top panel. I love the Dragon Joker tile (I was lucky, there are 8 carved ones) and the One Dot with the symbol for longevity, Shou, in the center. The top row of Flowers are flowers: plum blossom, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, flowers usually seen when flowers are shown. The bottom row is a bit different: the rich man and the pot of gold, and two gods: according to Wikipedia probably Lü Dongbin, who dresses as a scholar and carries a sword, and Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. I love the gold paint used for the rich man, the pot of gold, and the spots on the peacock's tail.

Many experts consider these types of bone and bamboo tiles to be very well carved and a great value. Buy them while you can!

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Many Mahjong Flower tiles are not just flowers. Oftentimes, carvers would depict traditional jobs  and activities of the scholar. The top row shows traditional jobs: the scholar, the farmer working the land, the wood cutter (here he does not even have any twigs or branches, but this is how the wood-cutter is depicted, sitting down with a shoe in his hand), and the fisherman.

The scholar's activities are on the bottom row: painting, calligraphy, chess (or the game of go) and the lute or Qin. DSC_0354

Many times the scholar's activities are shown in a very abstract way; that post will come another day.

These Flower tiles can be read 1234 and 4321, but on other tiles it makes a difference because scenes can continue from one tile to the next.

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The Chinese phoenix is a good luck sign. He only appears when the land is being ruled by a just king, according to Wolfram Eberhard, one of the leading Chinese symbolism scholars. The phoenix is one of the four fabulous creatures,recognizable by its long tail with a few feathers like those seen in peacocks. The other three fabulous creatures are the dragon, the turtle, and the Qi-lin, a special Chinese unicorn.  I fell for this bone and bamboo set because I loved the strutting phoenix: look at his attitude!

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Surprises can show up when you buy an old set. This set came with other tiles, covered by the Big Joker stickers that are issued by the National Mah Jongg League. (This allowed the previous owner to play with NMJL rules.) This is what I found under one such sticker, hidden for dozens of years. I believe this to be Cao Guo-Jiu, one of the Eight Immortals who often is seen wearing the official court clothing and holding a scepter. It is one of the finest carved mahjong tiles I have seen.

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The following tile did not come with the set, but it shows the Chinese character for Phoenix. The Mah-Jongg Sales Company of America, when they were first designing their own sets, placed the character for phoenix on what we call a Green Dragon today. (The Red was the symbol for Dragon.) There are two similar symbols for phoenix, one for the male and one for the female bird. MJSA used the male symbol, which has several small strokes at the bottom.

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Note the stylized lions on the front of this beautiful wood box with brass trimming
Note the stylized lions on the front of this beautiful antique wood box with brass trimming.

Lions are loved by the Chinese, but of course are not native to that country. According to Wolfram Eberhard, the first lions were probably brought there by emissaries from foreign countries, and these animals were kept in Imperial zoos. They feature prominently in Chinese folklore. When they are depicted in art, they rarely resemble real lions, perhaps because the artist had never seen a real one.

In art, when a pair of lions is seen, usually one is male and the other female; the male lion has an ornamental ball under his paw, and the female a lion cub. Here on this Mahjong box we may be seeing two male lions, with one ornamental ball between them. Lion-Guardians have appeared in art since the 3rd Century. In some representations of a lion with a ball, a lion cub is said to be in the embroidered ball, but others say the ball is actually a large pearl being played with by the lion. Here, because there is one ball and two creatures, the viewer can be reminded of the two dragons who often have a pearl between them, frequently seen in Chinese art.

This front panel lifts up to reveal the drawers behind. The brass is especially well detailed; other boxes have brass trim but usually it is plain or with few embellishments. This box was meant to have a prominent place in the home.

The side of this beautiful box has what resembles a flower pot (an image often seen on Mah Jong tiles and boxes)
The side of this beautiful box has what resembles a flower pot but is actually three halberds in a vase, symbolizing a hope for luck in life or on important exams.

This beautiful set was sold at auction in the summer of 2013.

To see more images from this set, click here.