Author Archives: Kuan Yin

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Mah Jong enthusiast

Arkmel Mahjong tile set 1 through 9

Kuan Yin • February 8, 2014

The set continues to delight, as often some of these paper and wood or simple wood sets do. Note the unusual design of the Bams and Dots. Some numbers on the Craks have a little twist too, as seen on the 7. The Red and Green Dragons also have a bit of flair.

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Arkmel Tiles • 1 Comment

Kuan Yin • February 7, 2014

This wood set has printed lithography "tile"faces glued onto the wood. It is hard to compete with the delightful One Dot and One Bam, but the Flowers on this set do hold their own, although they are not typical of the flowers associated with China. You will notice the top row has Chinese numbers placed on the top on the 1 Flower, but hidden lower down on the others, almost looking like part of the design. The flowers are a chrysanthemum, iris, peony, and poppy. The birds probably are a crane, swallow, vulture, and duck. It was just suggested by a reader the bird on tile 3 might be a cormorant, which ties in nicely with Chinese life and fishing practices.

Above is a photo taken from Wikipedia showing a Chinese fisherman and his cormorants.

Click here for more from Wikipedia

A beautiful article on cormorant fishing can be found in The Atlantic magazine.

http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/07/catching-fish-using-birds-stunning-images-of-a-dying-art-in-china/277798/

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Arkmel set • 2 Comments

Kuan Yin • February 6, 2014

This is a fabulous French wooden Mahjong set by Arkmel. The design of the box is delightful, with a center logo which somewhat resembles a stylized eye. The wonderful lizard will reappear on the One Dots. The set is made of simple small pieces of wood with paper decals.

Enjoy the One Dot and One Bam. How delightful are they? More tomorrow!

Tibet box • 2 Comments

Kuan Yin • February 5, 2014

This is the box which holds the Mahjong tiles thought to be from Tibet. Its center is inset bone, as are the four round corners. They seem to be the four activities of the scholar: top left, clockwise: music, the game of go, writing, and painting.

These are images from Wikipedia which helped with the possible identifications; the paintings were done by an unknown Ming artist.

You can see the musical instrument on the lower left. Note too the peacock, peonies, and the plants in pots.

Here is the game of go, played on a square board. You can also see tea being poured, a wall behind the go players, and a person carrying a fan.

Here the scholar is doing calligraphy. You will also note the ornate table, the ginger jar in the background, and once again the wall behind.

The scholar is holding a paint brush which also resembles a fly whisk. He is copying the painting presented to him.

To read more about this, click here

A figure riding a water buffalo and playing a flute is very common in Chinese art. Here is a sculpture from liveauctioneers:

Here is the link to this image:

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/14925142_two-chinese-carved-ivory-immortals

Rack with Eight Immortals

Kuan Yin • February 4, 2014

This is a wonderful Mahjong tile rack with bone pieces inset into the wood. The racks are painted black, and are a delightful contrast to the white circles. It is believed these racks were made recently, and they are part of the set (discussed last month) that may have been made in Tibet.

The figures on the rounds are thought to be the Eight Immortals. A good clue is that there are eight rounds, and another is the figures are all standing on rounded circles which represent clouds in Chinese art. But identifying them all correctly is often very challenging. Sometimes it can only be done by means of eliminating the ones you know to be true, and seeing who is left. On this set, there are a few unidentified Immortals.

Spelling of the names is done with the help of Patricia Bjaaland Welch and her book: Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery

This figure may be Lu Dongbin, identifiable with his fly whisk in hand.

This might be Zhang Guolao who carries a bamboo drum, and is the patron of artists and calligraphers.

Finally!! He Xiangu, recognizable because of her long-stemmed lotus. She is the patron of housewives.

Li Tieguai, recognized by the gourd bottle, he's dressed in rags, and is the patron of the ill.

This may be Cao Guojiu, the patron of actors and actresses.

And this may be Lu Dongbin with a sword on his back, the patron of barbers.

The Immortals are often recognized because of what they carry in their hands. Here it is a bit unclear. Our thanks to Ray Heaton who venture a few guesses for a couple of mystery Immortals.

Green set • 1 Comment

Kuan Yin • February 3, 2014

Sometimes a set stands out because of the lovely and unusual color combinations of the material and the paint colors. This is one such set.

Of course Bams cannot be green here, they would never be seen! So we have white Bams on the green background. The pink adds a bit of snap to it.

The pink Crak wans are lovely when paired with the blue Chinese numbers.

The Flowers are the beauties often seen. The Green Dragons are White, the Red are the pink, and the White are an elaborate white frame. The Winds are the lovely blue color.

The One Dot has a meander as one of the outside rings, with a flower petal center. The other Dots are the flower heads inside a circle.

Tan and Black tiles

Kuan Yin • February 2, 2014

These two tone Mahjong tiles have faces in an unusual color. In this photograph it does look as if there is an attempt at French Ivory, but this is not apparent on the tiles themselves. The set includes two runs of identical Flowers, thus 16 Flowers in all. The top set of Flowers are the Beauties, and the symbols are seasons, starting with spring. The lower set are the four professions: fisherman, woodcutter, farmer and scholar. The Red and Green Dragons are Chinese characters, and the White is the frame. It is not known if the red paint was original to the tiles, but it is not found on the other White Dragons.

Please note the wonderful huge fish the fisherman has in his hands.

Images on Flowers in other forms of art

Kuan Yin • February 1, 2014

These Flowers come from a lovely, though strangely colored Mahjong set. We don't know if the set was intended to be this color or if the color changed over time. The backs of the tiles are black, and there is no wafer back.

We have seen many of these ladies before, and these images were very familiar to the artists in China and the people buying the sets.

Once again, a beautiful porcelain piece offered by Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Ltd, on display at the Winter Antiques Show.

Here both ladies hold fans. We also see the wall in the background, as we so often see on Flower tiles.

To see more treasures from the Ralph M. Chait collection, click here

Rottgames

Kuan Yin • January 31, 2014

This post was sent to us by our friend Katherine. It often is very hard to determine who made old vintage sets.

"One can read in CHarli's, "The Preface", to her book that she believes there were few manufacturers in the 1920s and 1930s, but many different labels. I am hoping to help illustrate this with a few images. Link to CHarli's site:

http://www.charli.org/AllThingsMahJong.html

The tiles with the three very distinct colors are all most likely from the same manufacturer,

from sometime during the 1920-30s. While they all have some similarities, they are all

different labels. Top row, most likely, Rottgames. Middle row, Macys. Bottom row, Ivorycraft.

mf5IxGoq5DuYLstJgJ6OTOT3g8AZMmBlRilf9sU_BYhX8fyc1M3wZ9xOBqI13QIOMrDiceQhFP8bKuyyOYrkpAhU_BShrx45J_4yJL_cw0zK_IeJieYupva7XugMVL_M1KRxIuz-LI0GdrNQ2dgAIpdCpbw4tfrkBFA=s0-d-e1-ft

Seen in the lone image of the Rottgames tiles... These tiles are all thought to be from the

same label, Rottgames. We know the top row and bottom row are for certain, they are in the

1940s Rottgames catalog. The middle row (from the 1920-30s) because of the similarities in

the dot tiles to later Rottgames sets is likely a Rottgames set. Top row, "round" Peacock

(Turkey) Set.

Middle row, Sparrow Set. Bottom row, Crane (Chicken) Set."

Thank you Katherine!

So, do you think this set is a Rottgames too? Many do. The Flowers are the same, the White Dragon is like the one above, and the Green and Red Dragons are similar too.

Images seen on Flowers • 2 Comments

Kuan Yin • January 30, 2014

You all recognize these Flower tiles made by the Mah-Jongg Sales Company of America. I thought you might like to see how some images here were very familiar, and often seen in decorative art pieces.

The handcart on tile 1 often was used to transport items. You can see it is an early form of a wheelbarrow. The handcart above was auctioned off at Christies.

And this below by Liveauctioneers:

A sedan is seen on tile 2. Following is a piece of art that was auctioned at Liveauctioneers.com

At one time in Hong Kong, according to Wikipedia, sedans were the only form of public transportation.

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

Usually when we think of getting around Hong Kong many years ago, the rickshaw (tile 3) is the form of transportation that comes to mind. Wikipedia states that it is believed the rickshaw was invented in Japan in 1869 after a ban on wheeled vehicles was lifted following the Tokugawa period. It first appeared in China in 1873. The following image is from Wikipedia:

And here it is seen on an exquisite plate currently offered for sale by the Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc. at the Winter Antiques Show

And finally the Chinese junk (tile 4) which was invented during the Song Dynasty which lasted from 960 until 1129, according to Wikipedia.

To see more beautiful pieces of Chinese art from the Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Ltd. click here

http://www.rmchait.com

Mahjong Treasures

Appreciating the Art of Mahjong; A Collector's Guide