bone and bamboo

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This thick bone  set has one of the Chinese porcelain ball-like One Dots. Here the center is a flower, with partial flowers at the compass points. The other dots continue the floral center, meaning they all have to be hand-carved (the circle centers can be made with a handheld drill).  The Bams are  barbed, and the Wans on the Craks very simple and small, almost looking too small for the space. The color green is certainly predominant in this set.

The Winds are uniform in color and the Red and Green Dragons are the Chinese characters, with the White being blank.

The Flowers on the right are plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. (The Chinese word for bamboo is usually easy to read with its two similar sticks with two left jutting upper strokes.) The flowers on the left may be peony, lotus,  unknown and narcissus.

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This continues the discussion of Bill's lovely tile set seen yesterday. The Green, Red, and White Dragons are the types that we normally see on Bone and Bamboo tiles. The use of red paint on the Winds letters is somewhat unusual.

The Flowers are really special. You will note that the flowers being held by the people on the top row are the same we saw in the center of the One Dots. (Click here) Thanks to Ray Heaton, we have an understanding of the tiles.

Starting with the bottom row of Flowers:

"The four noble professions, (green Chinese characters, simplified characters), 渔樵耕读, Yu, Qiao, Geng, Dou.  (The way the characters have been written simplifies them further.)

Tile #1,  渔 (traditional character is 漁), Yu, Fisherman
#2, 樵, Qiao, to Gather Wood, an abbreviated way of saying Woodcutter
#3, 耕, Geng, to Plow (Farmer)
#4, 读,  (traditional character is 讀), Dou, to Read or to Study (Scholar)

So these represent Fisherman, Woodcutter, Farmer and Scholar

And

The four seasons, (red Chinese characters), 春夏秋冬, Chun, Xia, Qiu, Dong

Tile #1, 春, Chun, spring
#2, 夏, Xia, summer
#3, 秋, Qiu, autumn
#4, 冬, Dong, winter. 

I guess (again) the flowers are Peony, Lotus, Chrysanthemum and Plum Blossom.  The 1 dots show the same flowers (in a different order in the photo), though the Lotus has the seed pod and leaf too (an auspicious symbol of fertility)."

You can see how the objects normally associated with the four noble professions have been very much simplified in the lower set of Flowers.

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The photograph of this lovely set was sent by reader Bill Price.

The very thick bone and bamboo tiles have some very interesting designs.  Each One Dot is unique, rarely seen in sets. The centers feature three flowers we associate with the seasons: chrysanthemum, plum blossom, and orchid. The farthest left tile image remains a mystery, but if anyone has any ideas please let us know.

The One Bam sprout is somewhat unusual. You can see the sprout, with the bamboo shoot below it. Sometime people call this the "pineapple" Bam, and you can easily see why.

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The set was made for export as can be seen by the presence of Western letters and Arabic numbers.

Other tiles have some unusual qualities as well. The Dots are the flower within a circle. We have seen the 9 Dot arrangement before, but it does not appear that often and remains a favorite among collectors.  It is possible this only appears on sets made for export. The Craks are the elaborate Wans. The Bams are of the barbed variety.

The remaining tiles will be posted tomorrow.

Our thanks to Bill for sharing these photographs with us.

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These Flowers are from the set discussed yesterday. The color palette is somewhat muted, with softer greens. Interestingly there is a 4th color which we often see on these thick bone sets, a burgundy perhaps made by mixing the blue and the red.  

Ray Heaton has once again translated and interpreted the tiles

"They are two stories from the book The Romance of The Three Kingdoms.

Bottom set are 琴退司馬, Qin, Tui, Si, Ma.  The first character looks more like 琹, which is the same as (a variant of) the first one I have shown.

 Qin, the Guqin, a musical instrument often called the zither or lute.

Tui, to retreat

Si, to take charge of, or the surname Si

Ma, horse, or the surname Ma.

The last two make the name Sima, this is Sima Yi from the Three Kingdoms

This is better known as the Empty City Ruse and is where Zhuge Liang (great military strategist persuaded to join the cause of the three sworn brothers to return the Empire to its rightful dynastic rule) fools Sima Yi into believing the apparently empty city is a trap.

 Sima Yi is the military strategist of one of the opposing armies.

Following the Shu defeat at the Battle of Jieting, Zhuge Liang retreated with a small garrison force to Xicheng but was exposed to being attacked by the much larger overwhelming forces of the Wei army led by Sima Yi.  In the face of disaster, Zhuge Liang came up with a ploy to hold off the approaching enemy.

 Zhuge Liang ordered all the gates to be opened and instructed soldiers disguised as civilians to sweep the roads while he sat calmly above the city gate playing his guqin. When the Wei army led by Sima Yi arrived, Sima was surprised by the scene before him and he ordered a retreat after suspecting that there was an ambush inside the city. "

If you see Flowers with people holding brooms, and a man on the wall, it is almost certain they refer to this beloved story from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

"The top set say 智取四川, Zhi Qu Si Chuan

The first two mean "to take by strategy" and the second two are Sichuan (a southern province in China).  I'm taking this to mean in part that the capital city of the Shu empire, Chengdu (which is now the capital city of Sichuan province) was captured through the strategic advice of Zhuge Liang rather than by force.  You can equate Sichuan with the Shu Kingdom.  The "strategy" here probably refers to the Longzhong Plan, and so the tiles may well be referring to the establishment of the Shu kingdom, rather than specifically to its capital.

Sichuan province was called the Yi Province and is referred to in the Three Kingdoms as here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms#Liu_Bei.27s_takeover_of_Yi_Province

 ...the Longzhong Plan was developed by Zhuge Liang to establish the Shu Kingdom under Liu Bei (the Shu, Wei and Wu are the three Kingdoms within the story) as a precursor to the reunification of China under the Han dynasty. (A plan that eventually failed in the longer term, as the Han was not restored).

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longzhong_Plan "

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the 14th Century, and is a historical novel with more than 1,000 different characters and 800,000 words. For more information about the book, please click

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

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The Winds seem to have a certain flair, and the green and blue colors are lively. The Dragons are the traditional Chinese Characters.

Our thanks to the people at Mahjongmahjong for providing these photographs. To see more treasures from their collection, click here

To see another version of Ruse of the Empty City previously discussed on this site, click here

 

 

 

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Another especially beautiful bone and bamboo mahjong set can be seen here. The colors are lovely and subdued. The One Bam has a sweet bird perched in what might be plum blossoms, given the attention paid to the five leaves on the lower flower. As is typical, the bird has one foot raised. The other Bams are of the barbed variety, but these seem to resemble architectural elements. Interestingly, the One Bam has green numbers but the other Bams have blue.

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On this close up you can see the attention paid to the bird, to the tree branches and the leaf and flower buds. You will often see birds perched on or near rocks in Chinese art. The Metropolitan Museum has some in its collection; here is one such example.

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You can see the bird on the rock, and the lovely flowering plant, similar to what we have on the One Bam.

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Here the Craks have the elaborate Wan, blue Chinese numbers and green Arabic numbers.

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The Dots are the elaborately carved floral variety. The One Dot is the flower within a flower, and the 2 Dot is an eight petaled flower. It may just be coincidence (but in Chinese design, very little is) but the number 8 is very lucky in China, and is associated with prosperity. The rest of the Dots have six petals. Once again we have a different color on the #1 than on the other numbers.

The other tiles will be discussed tomorrow.

We are indebted to Mahjongmahjong for the photographs of this lovely set. To see more from their collection, please click here

To read more about the significance of numbers in China, click here.

To see more of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of art, click here

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our thanks to Ray Heaton for providing translations and context for these bone and bamboo Mahjong Flowers.

Read right to left

The top row are 李逵抬親, Li, Kui, Tai, Qin.  The first two are the name Li Kui, one of the characters from the story, the second two are "carry" and "parent".  Li Kui's story is shown here  in wikipedia

In this story is an episode where he carries his mother on his back, but leaves her to fetch water; while he is away she is attacked and killed by tigers.

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Bottom row, right to left; 張順請医, Zhang, Shun, Qing, Yi. The first two are the name of another character in the story, Zhang Shun. The second two mean "request" and "doctor". Take a look here for information about him in wikipedia. 

The tiles refer to an episode in the story where Zhang Shun goes off to seek the physician An Daoquan to help treat his friend Song Jiang.

And finally the Winds and Dragons:

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You can see how thick the bone is on these tiles. The White Dragon is the simple white bone and bamboo tile often seen on these sets.

 

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This set lives in the box shown February 9th.

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The tiles are very thick bone, and were created by Master Carvers.

The Craks are the elaborate Wan, the Bams have the swooping crane One Bam with the rounded other Bams, and the Dots are floral.  The green numbers on the Craks are somewhat unusual.

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All the Dots are plum blossoms, seen by the five petals. The 2 Dot is especially lovely.

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Often when sets are purchased there is a bit of history included in them. Here we have a small piece of paper that was hidden among the bone counters, indicating some meaning about the set, and who found it for the last lucky owner. These bits of set provenance and history are valued by collectors. Note the lovely well shaped bone counters, also indicating the high quality of the set.

The Flowers will be discussed tomorrow.

 

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Babcock Set

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.

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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:

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

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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:

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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

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

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

http://www.rmchait.com

 

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This is another treasure from the private collection of Mahjongmahjong. The bone and bamboo Mahjong tiles are finely carved, with long thin rounded Bams. This set was meant for export because of the Arabic numbers which are beautiful and delicate.

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Look at the wonderful expression on this peacock, with twelve dots on his tail. (In Mahjong, these dots originally started as coins, but morphed into dots of the tail instead.) The colors used in the paint for this set are unusual, perhaps more subtle in hue than what we see more often. Both of the birds feet are on the ground, and this often can be an indication the set was made in Japan.

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The One Dot is especially detailed, with many different circles going from the head of a flower in the inner most circle into almost a sunflower outside circle. The other Dots are simpler, although the 2 Dot has many more petals in its floral center than six the others have.

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The Craks have the elaborate wan. Here the Arabic numbers are green instead of the blue seen on the other suits.

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Green is used again for the Western wind letters, and the Dragons are the traditional Chinese characters.

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The delicate carving continues on these Flower tiles. The top row of Flowers is the usual flowers: plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, and the lower row are the seasons starting with spring.There are also four Singapore capture tiles: the cat catches the mouse, and the rich man the silver shoe. In China, shoes can symbolize wealth because their shape is similar to that of a silver ingot. I believe the circle in the shoe to be a pearl, with the trident like shapes symbolizing luminescence, somewhat similar to what we saw on the Dragon and pearl box earlier this week. Click here to see that article Dragon and pearl

To read about the symbolism of shoes:

http://primaltrek.com/impliedmeaning.html

From wikipedia you can see this ingot:

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and to read more:

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

To see more of the wonderful private collection of mahjongmahjong click here

http://www.mahjongmahjong.com/vintage_mahjong_collection.htm

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There is something just lovely about this set. The 1 Bam swooping crane and the other rounded Bams, the simple wans, and the One Dot flower within a flower pattern that becomes a simple flower inset on the other Dots, along with the patina, make it quite delightful. The top Flower tiles are translated: Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, Chrysanthemum And the bottom ones are: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Those characters were carved with a bit of flair, making translations challenging for me. Thanks again Ray. A peach is the bottom #3, a symbol of longevity according to Patricia Bjaaland Welch. She goes on to further explain that peaches are often seen with the God of Immortality, Lao Shouxing, who carries a peach and is easily recognized because of his large forehead, big ears, and protruding stomach covered by a robe. In addition the Daoist goddess Xi Wangmu has a garden where peaches of immortality grow. Each year she distributes the fruit to her heavenly guests on her birthday. Here is a statue of Lao Shouxing taken from Wikipedia

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You will note he has a peach in his hand, and another printed on his robe. He often appears on Flowers.