bone and bamboo

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This darling monkey is one of the 12 signs found on a set of charming Mahjong racks made in Asia. The small pieces of bone are inserted into the wood rack and the wood is painted black.

 

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And above are tiles sitting on that rack with the year 2016, led off by a Flower with an image of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, a beloved character in Chinese stories. He is a major player in the novel Journey to the West. The Monkey King often appears on Chinese Bakelite tiles; this is the only set I have seen (that I can remember, anyway!) with this character on bone and bamboo tiles.

Sun Wukong frequently appears in Chinese operas, as you can see below, in a photo taken from Wikipedia.

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I went to a Chinese New Year luncheon the other day, and I was just the lucky winner of Neil Somerville's Your Chinese Horoscope 2016, subtitled: What the Year of the Monkey holds in store for you.

Here is some of what he has to say:

..."throughout the year world leaders will frequently confer and in some cases put past animosities behind them and forge new alliances. ..The United States celebrated the start of its nationhood in 1776, a previous year of the Fire Monkey, and in this one, much attention will be focused on the Presidential election. There will be great debate over the direction of domestic and foreign policy as well as increasing focus on American identity, and the campaign will be passionately fought, with some issues proving divisive and sometimes even causing rifts between party supporters."

Well, I won't do any more excerpts, but he certainly has a lot of this right, at least as far as the current political situation in the States is concerned.

I thought it fun to add this photo of monkeys from the 1920s, I believe, at the mahjong table. I highly doubt they played the game, but they probably enjoyed the tiles. In this Year of the Monkey, let's hope for some good times around the mahjong table, playing a game rich with possibilities, strategy and luck, intersperced with great merriment and camaraderie.

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Fox Sunshine Comedies produced a short showing chimpanzees playing the game, with a photo featured in Photoplay magazine.

Thought you might laugh about the background I picked for the "photoshoot." I found something red, a good luck color. And yes, the book was upside down, but doesn't this look like a monkey?

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And if any of you want to read about the Monkey King, here is the article in Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong

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Many people think they have ivory mahjong sets, either because they assume they do or that is what they have been told. Some people do have ivory tiles, but most people don't. But just because tiles are not made of ivory does not mean they are less valuable. In fact, some of the most expensive sets sold recently are bone and bamboo, not ivory and bamboo or pure ivory.

Why is it that some sets made of bone are more expensive than those made of ivory? The answer is simple: it is all about the carving and the designs on the tiles. In the 1920s, the heyday for Mahjong designers and carvers, China was very poor and ivory was in short supply. In fact, bone was scarce too. When China ran out of bone they were able to purchase some from the United States, from the stockyards in Chicago and the cattle ranchers in Nebraska. The best parts of the bone were bought by the best workshops, and they turned out high quality sets. Of course ivory was carved in the best workshops too, but it might have been that the shops were depending more on the ivory material alone to sell the set, and thus were not as inspired to make sets with wonderful designs that would make people want to buy the tiles.

This exquisite bone and bamboo set, seen below, recently sold for almost $10,000. And yes, for bone and bamboo, but look at the carvings and the images. Absolutely beautiful. In fact, each tile is a masterpiece. The Dots come first (peaches, with the One Dot a curled up Dragon often copied as joker tiles on the modern sets), Winds with butterflies in the corners, and Dragons with dragons and phoenixes, Flowers perhaps illustrating a tale of combat, and Craks with special Chinese numbers usually used by banks, surrounded by longevity symbols including endless knots, and Bams made of Bamboo shoots (and look at that divine One Bam bird with the ribbon in its mouth, symbolizing China's military strength).

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This next set is solid ivory, and it sold for less than half of the above set. It is easy to see why. Yes, the carving is lovely, but the designs are much more unusual and intricate on the bone and bamboo set.

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You will notice that the surface of the ivory is smooth.

Bone often has small channels in it, the haversian system, as you can see below, even in this very beautifully carved set.

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note small dots on the side of the bone, remnants of the haversian system
note small dots on the side of the bone, remnants of the haversian system

 

Below are two photos of ivory, seen from the top and the side.

notice the slightly wavy varied tones in these ivory tiles
notice the slightly wavy varied tones in these ivory tiles
the cross-hatching only found in ivory is noticeable on the sides of these tiles
the cross-hatching only found in ivory is noticeable on the sides of these tiles

Ivory has cross-hatching known as Schreger lines, but sometimes several pieces need to be examined to see it, depending on where on the tusk the pieces came from. For more views of ivory, please click here to see the page devoted to ivory and French Ivory.

 

 

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Friend and blog reader Cari took this lovely photo the other day of  the National Mah Jongg League's 2015 hand. It calls for 2 Flowers, followed by the year repeated three times in the three suits. In all hands calling for a zero, the White Dragon is used. What is wonderful about this hand is that many of the most special tiles, the Ones, and the Flowers are used, and often the White Dragon is quite lovely too.

So, I thought it would be fun to celebrate 2016 showing the great variety of styles and images on Mahjong sets.  A big thanks to the readers who took photos and sent them in, including Barney, Tracy, Geraldine, Debra, Gail and Cari, as well as the others. We have a delightful array of sets, showing the great variety of ways designers and craftsmen have added beauty to this fabulous game, ranging from paper cards, to wood, to bakelite, Chinese Bakelite, bone and bamboo, and mother-of-pearl. All of these sets are treasured by their owners, and all have brought great happiness to the players around the table. What better way to celebrate the new year than by looking at art that has made people happy?

 

A mass-produced and highly collectible Chinese Bakelite set with unusual Flowers and Bams
A mass-produced and highly collectible Chinese Bakelite set with unusual Flowers and Bams

 

a recent set, made in Asia
a recent set, made in Asia

 

A Lung Chan set, with two tone (blue) backs. Lung Chan features a suite of bird Flowers.
A Lung Chan set, with two tone (blue) backs. Lung Chan features a suite of bird Flowers.

 

The tiles in the middle feature mother-of-pearl faces set in wood
The tiles in the middle feature mother-of-pearl faces set in wood

 

Rust colored Ashton & Rietz
Rust colored Ashton & Rietz

 

Black Bamboo
Black Bamboo

 

Delightful Bone and Bamboo set with animal Flowers
Delightful Bone and Bamboo set with animal Flowers

 

from back to front: Waterbury Button Company, Marke Pehafra, rare Chinese Bakelite two-tone pillow-top set
from back to front: Waterbury Button Company, Marke Pehafra, rare Chinese Bakelite two-tone pillow-top set

The following eight contributions belong to one collector:

Contemporary plastic set
Contemporary plastic set
wood set
wood set
Contemporary plastic
Contemporary plastic
contemporary plastic
contemporary plastic
miniature plastic traveling set
miniature plastic traveling set
children's Royal Depth Control traveling set
children's Royal Depth Control traveling set
TYL two-tone Bakelite set from the 1940s (backs are chocolate-brown)
TYL two-tone Bakelite set from the 1940s (backs are chocolate-brown)
Contemporary set with Day-Glo colors
Contemporary set with Day-Glo colors

 

Mother of pearl faces on ebony
Mother of pearl faces on ebony
Beautiful Thick Bone and Bamboo tiles, Peach (longevity) Dots with One Dot encircling a coiled Dragon, different longevity symbols on Craks with Bank-style Chinese numbers, Bamboo shoot Bams with hovering hawk symbolizing China's strength
Beautiful Thick Bone and Bamboo tiles, Peach (longevity) Dots with One Dot encircling a coiled Dragon, different longevity symbols on Craks with Bank-style Chinese numbers, Bamboo shoot Bams with hovering hawk symbolizing China's strength

 

Chinese Game Company with special Dragons
Chinese Game Company with special Dragons

 

The wonderful variety of mahjong sets, including paper cards, wood, and Portland Billiard Company (the first set behind the front cards)
The wonderful variety of mahjong sets, including paper cards, wood, and Portland Billiard Company (the first set behind the front cards)

 

beautiful sloping circles, label unknown
beautiful sloping circles, label unknown

 

Red MJ
highly carved set featuring crane (longevity) Dots, peacock Bams, and Craks with bats (longevity and prosperity) on the sides

 

Magnificent Bone and Bamboo set with lacquer box
Magnificent Bone and Bamboo set with lacquer box
Shanghai Luck Bone and Bamboo
Shanghai Luck Bone and Bamboo

 

close up of Craks 2016
close up of Craks 2016

Here's a close-up of the Craks suit from this hand. If you look carefully, you can see peaches on the top and bottom. Peaches are symbols of longevity in China. And on the left and right there are bats, also symbols of longevity, but because of the way the Chinese word for bat  is pronounced, the bat also symbolizes prosperity. Dragonflies, seen on the White Dragon, represent pureness of character according to Confucian ideals.

So let us hope that 2016 is a year of longevity, prosperity, and pureness of character.

 

 

 

 

 

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If anyone tells you "Mahjong is for the birds," you might respond "How right you are! Mahjong is and has always been about the birds." The game was named the game of sparrows, because of the noise of the tiles on the table. And, almost from the beginning, designers and carvers knew that beautiful bird One Bams could be the selling point for sets. That is why only the best carvers made the One Bams, and the Flowers. The workshop that produced this bone and bamboo Mahjong set certainly had very skilled carvers. The suits are elaborate, with a somewhat simple flying peacock One Bam.

But oh, these Flowers:

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One of my friends is a serious birder, and she helped with some of the bird identifications, although she said that some liberties had been taken with the renderings. But here are what she thinks the birds are:

top row

#3 parrot

#2 heron, ibis or stork

bottom:

#1 dollar bird or hawk based on flat head and the way it is sitting

Anyone else have any ideas?

There's a new ebook with this title, Mahjong is for the Birds, one that helps people to identify vintage plastic sets and get an understanding about their relative value. You can find it at www.mahjongmahjong.com

 

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This fabulous set did not last on ebay for long, (maybe half a minute?), but I thought I would be remiss not to share the photos of it with all of you who did not even get a chance to see it. To begin with, it is in unbelievable shape given that it is getting close to being 100 years old. It was made for export, as can be seen by the Arabic numbers and Western letters. The One Bam birds are among the prettiest I have ever seen. In China, eagles, falcons and hawks represent boldness. A hawk standing on one leg, as we have here, can be a rebus for "a hero stands alone, peerless," because the homophone for eagle is one of the two Chinese characters that comprise the word "hero" in Chinese. This bird is on a lotus; a lotus symbolizes purity and perfection because it "rises undefiled from impure muddy waters" ((Bjaaland Welch), and it is also a symbol of Buddhism.

One Dots like this always remind me of those wonderful Chinese porcelain decorative balls.

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The Flowers are simple, and delicately carved.The top row from left to right are bindweed (?), lotus, peach, and oranges(?). The bottom row are the expected plants, associated with the seasons: plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum.

And just look at the thickness of the bone:

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As you may know, the thicker the bone, the more expensive, thus the more experienced and skilled the craftsmen who made them.

And just look at this wonderful box! The crane and the eagle are painted on the front panel.

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Interesting that the set was updated, in all probability, by an owner, who placed the plastic counters in the drawer, adding a bit of personal history to the set.

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B-Couples B&B114 (1)

These wonderful scenes are from a delightful bone and bamboo Mahjong set you can find in Mah Jongg The Art of the Game By Ann Israel and me.

The images detail wedding preparations and the wedding night itself.

On the third row, far right, you can see the bride with her red shoes, sitting on a bed. The bed looks quite ornate, and Chinese Wedding beds actually look like this. I lucked upon this one, seen at Leonard's Antiques.

 

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Many if us who live in NYC might think this is the size of a studio apartment!

Here are some of the carvings seen on the outside of the bed, going around the perimeter of the opening. You will see that the carvings closely resemble some of the ornate ones we see on the outside of deeply carved mahjong boxes.

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Here are scenes from Chinese tales, featuring some battles and other dramatic moments, not quite what most of us would expect to have decorating a marital bed! But these scenes are cherished by the Chinese, as we see in other forms of Chinese art.

 

Chinese lions are atop the bed, on either side:

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Inside the bed painted panels surround the mattress, here seen with symbols of prosperity (fish) and modernity (streetlight):

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Melons and Pagodas

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The mandarin duck symbolizes married bliss

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And yet another fish a carp, the symbol for success and advancement in business:

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This carving is on the top center of the bed:

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Ray Heaton has kindly translated these unusual characters.

I think the characters may be 百世其昌 (reading right to left), which means "may your future generations prosper" and is used in ancestral worship (for example), where chants (or prayers) to ancestors are made asking them to help protect you, family and generations yet to come.

 

 

This all ties in very nicely, doesn't it?

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X 59 EAGLE SCENE crab

We've been looking at some of the wonderful sea creatures that we see on Mahjong tiles. The next three appear in our book: Mah Jongg the Art of the Game. They are from a fabulous set of Flower tiles, made of ivory backed with bamboo. Thanks to www.Mahjongmahjong.com for providing this wonderful set for our use in the book.

You can see how finely carved this crab is, and how there is attention to the rocks under the water, and the grasses growing at the bottom of the sea. Once again we see that small "H" mark on the shell of the crab, similar to what we saw in the other post. To me, that crab has a lot of personality!

 

X 59 EAGLE SCENE shrimp

Here we have a shrimp, swimming near the ocean bottom, past little clumps of sea plants. To the Chinese the shrimps are symbols of flexibility. I don't know about you, but I certainly could use a bit more flexibility in my life!!

 

X 59 EAGLE SCENE fish

And this may be one of the most delightful looking goldfish I have ever seen!  The bubbles are such a terrific touch! And as you probably remember, goldfish are symbols of wealth and prosperity.

Here's another shrimp, this time bone and bamboo, not from the book

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By sheer coincidence, today is the day the Italians celebrate:

The feast of the 7 fishes, Christmas Eve.

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

 

You can now follow me on Twitter!

@MahJonggGregg

To learn more about Mah Jongg, you might want to take a look at this book that I wrote with Ann Israel, published by Tuttle. To see more about it:

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

 

 

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carp from the Japanese Mahjong Museum
carp from the Japanese Mahjong Museum

I thought it might be fun to really get a good look at some of the marvelous treasures that were in the Japanese Mahjong Museum. For those of you who don't know, the Museum was founded in 2002 by a Japanese publisher, Mr. Kyouitirou Noguchi, and its collection was the finest in the world. Soon after Mr Noguchi died, the collection was sold. We all have high hopes it can once more be put on display for everyone to enjoy and study.

In the meantime, there are two wonderful catalogs of the collection. The photographs are extraordinary. The sets run the gamut from those made of  paper to ones made of cloisonné, and silver. The catalogs themselves have become collectibles. The set today is on page 14 of the soft cover catalog.

The game is called "The Officials Promotion Tiles" and it closely resembles some of the variants of the suits we see in Mahjong. Although not technically Mahjong, the set is very similar to what we have been seeing. And it's really pretty to look at!! The color palette is unusual, with the addition of the gold paint, and the blue is a lovely shade.

Carp have great meaning to the Chinese.

From Primaltrek.com

"The carp fish is a commonly seen visual pun because the Chinese character for carp (li 鲤) is pronounced the same as both the character (li 利) for "profit" and the character (li 力) for "strength" or "power". 

and

"A frequently seen image is of a carp swimming and leaping against the current of a river to reach the spawning grounds.  This refers to the legend (liyutiaolongmen 鲤鱼跳龙门) that a carp which is able to leap over the mythical "Dragon Gate" will become a dragon.  This is an allegory for the persistent effort needed to overcome obstacles."

Given that this set is all about Officials getting promotions, certainly the second meaning of the image has its appeal.

needle nose fish
needle nose fish

 

These fish were really hard to see as fish at first. But after looking at it for a bit, I was able to make it out. These fish do live in the waters around China. Don't you love the red at the tip of its nose?

needle nose fish
needle nose fish

The next fish is a bit more common on Mahjong tiles: the goldfish. I think this one has a great bit of spirit! He almost looks like he's smiling.

goldfish
goldfish

The goldfish is a symbol for wealth because the way goldfish is pronounced in Chinese. The first syllable is the same as "gold" and the second the same as "jade."

 

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fish

I am not sure what this fish is, but I like his looks!

Finally, from another suite of Flower tiles within the same set

turtle
turtle

Imagine getting that much personality on a really small turtle on  small tile! The tortoise, or the turtle in China, is a symbol of longevity. They also symbolize strength and endurance.

You can now follow me on Twitter!

@MahJonggGregg

To learn more about Mah Jongg, you might want to take a look at this book that I wrote with Ann Israel, published by Tuttle. To see more about it:

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

 

 

 

 

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Qi Baishi, the Chinese artist who lived from 1867-1957, did this lovely scroll in 1950. It shows us five crabs (that number does keep reappearing, doesn't it?). This work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum.

Here's what the catalog has to say about his work featuring crabs:

"Crabs became an important subject in Qi Baishi's painting after he moved into a new studio in 1913 and crabs frequented his backyard. He once observed, "When a crab moves, its legs rise and fall in strict order despite their great number. This is something crab painters in the world do not know." This work represents his mature style, when naturalism and abstraction found a new balance. The subtle gradation of the ink suggests the undulation of the shell's surface. The eyes have become two short slanting lines. The claws, as circular splotches of ink with two simple converging lines, are reduced to geometric abstraction. During the last forty years of his life Qi lived in Beijing and befriended people of radically different persuasions. His passive tolerance of things of which he might not approve shows in his sarcastic inscription to this painting, which reads: "I just fold my arms and watch you gentlemen go." The Chinese term for the sideways movement of crabs, hengxing, is also a metaphor for impudent behavior. Qi often humorously compared crabs to presumptuous people. Here, he states that he will simply stand aside and let these creatures have their way."

Of course the crab is symbolic in Chinese art. And once again it has to do with the way the Chinese word is pronounced.

From Primaltrek:

The Chinese word for crab (蟹) and the Chinese word for harmony (协) are both pronounced xie.  The crab symbol is sometimes used on charms which express a desire for peace such as the large tian xia tai ping (天 下太平) charm shown at Peace Coins and Charms.

The crab is also used to symbolize success in the imperial examination system.  This is because the Chinese word for the crab's shell (jia 甲) has the additional meaning of "first" as in achieving the highest score in the examination to become a government official.

Certainly we have seen many symbols wishing for success on exams, as these crabs might be doing. Doing well on Scholar's exams opened up the door for success to people outside the noble classes. Great grades could allow the student an important job in government, whereas failure would prevent any kind of government job.

Wonderful crabs appear on Mahjong tiles too.

 

These crabs are Dots in a Shanghai Luck Mahjong set
These crabs are Dots in a Shanghai Luck Mahjong set

These three tiles are the One, Two and Three Dot tiles from a Shanghai Luck Set, called that because of the presence of sea creatures. I love the way the crabs are shown, legs going in a few different directions, the eyes popping out, and the great attention paid to the claws on the One Dot. Can't you just see them skittering across the mahjong table?  Maybe when one plays with one of these sets is can be the Game of Skittering Crabs in stead of The Game of Sparrows!!

 

DSC_0116 crab

Here is another crab from a different set of Flower tiles. You'll notice he too has the mark on the top of his shell, just like the ones on the One and Two Dot tiles above.

 

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Reader Bill provided us with these wonderful Flower tiles some of you remember from before. The crab certainly is quite recognizable, on the right tile, but what is the left creature?

Perhaps it is some kind of jelly fish?

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There is a Asian fascination with jelly fish, and they frequently  appear in aquarium tanks, and anyone who has had the delightful experience of seeing these creatures from afar can certainly enjoy their great beauty.

To learn more about Mah Jongg, you might want to take a look at this book that I wrote with Ann Israel, published by Tuttle. To see more about it:

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

 

 

 

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This beautiful rare jar was on display at Sotheby's during Asia Week 2014. It dates from the Jiajing Dynasty.

 

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Above is another view of the same jar.  A carp is depicted, a fish with great symbolism to the Chinese. You can recognize a carp because of his whiskers, considered to be an indication of its supernatural powers.

From Chinese Charms, Hidden Meanings of Symbols on Primaltrek

The carp fish is a commonly seen visual pun because the Chinese character for carp (li 鲤) is pronounced the same as both the character (li 利) for "profit" and the character (li 力) for "strength" or "power".

The carp is also a symbol for an abundance of children because it produces many eggs.

A pair of carp symbolizes a harmonious marriage.

A frequently seen image is of a carp swimming and leaping against the current of a river to reach the spawning grounds.  This refers to the legend (liyutiaolongmen 鲤鱼跳龙门) that a carp which is able to leap over the mythical "Dragon Gate" will become a dragon.  This is an allegory for the persistent effort needed to overcome obstacles.

photo-2

Above we see a detail of an Imperial robe in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. You can make out the two carp, one on either side of the front sides of the robe. The two carp symbolize a happy marriage, probably one with many children given two of the image's meanings.

 

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Above we have a close up of a plate from the Ralph M. Chait Gallery. The carp is located right in the middle.

 

 

kr set

 

Above is a One Bam from a fabulous and unusual set of tiles. You can see the carp, clearly recognizable by his whiskers. Perhaps he is poised to swim upstream, ready to face obstacles to achieve success. And don't you love his red eye?!

The Mahjong tiles are a set from reader Kathy's collection. Thank you.

Please send photos or ideas for posts to

kuanyin@mahjongtreasures.com