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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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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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.

 

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At first this set resembles most cb sets we have seen, but there is a small difference which adds to its charm.  As you can see on the Bam suit, the bamboos are very close together, made possible by the placement of the numbers beside the bamboo, instead of between the stalks. The One Dot is an abstract meander around a floral interior, and the other Dots have floral interiors. The Craks are the elaborate wan.

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You can see the difference between the look of the small set versus the bigger one.

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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.

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This thick bone and bamboo set recently sold at Addison's Auctioneers in the UK. Please forgive the quality of the photos taken from their website, but the Flowers are certainly worth the look. The people are much bigger here than we are used to seeing, and the images almost resemble portraits. The other tiles are lovely, with simple slightly rounded  Bams, elaborate Craks, and flower petal Dots.

Here is the same photo turned around

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And here is another

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And the last one of the Flowers in the set.

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$_57-2This pristine set was recently auctioned on ebay. The One Bam is the familiar peacock, but all the bright red accents make it unusual. The other Bams are in the barbed style.

The Craks have the elaborate Wan, and the unusual green Arabic numbers.

$_57-1The green and red color palette seen here is quite lovely.

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The Craks have the elaborate Wan, and the unusual green Arabic numbers.

 

$_57-3But the Flowers are what makes the set. Here a train and ship are captured while moving, as is evident of the smoke coming out of the smokestacks. Passengers are seen on both carriers. It is not really known what specifically these tiles were made to celebrate; some feel it is the opening of a commerce line linked by rail and sea.

 

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This lovely set with thick bone is elaborately carved. It was not intended for export as can be seen by the lack of Arabic numbers on these tiles. The Bams are in the elaborate, "barbed" form, with lovely shadings on the stalks. The crane, signifying longevity, is swooping on the One Bam.

Many of us feel these monochromatic sets are Japanese in origin, but Michael Stanwick, one of the best Mahjong historians, does not feel we can make that assumption. He feels this set was most probably made in Shanghai, and exported to Japan.

Michael's website can be seen by clicking here.

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The One Dot is the flower within a flower we have seen before, and the other Dots continue in the flower design, with their centers being the five petaled plum blossom, a favorite of the Chinese. It symbolizes the five blessings: health, wealth, virtue, longevity, and dying a natural death.

This is a good online quick spot to find symbolism on tiles:

http://primaltrek.com/impliedmeaning.html

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The elaborate form of the Wan is seen here. Craks (and Winds) are the hardest to "read" if the player is unfamiliar with Chinese writing, but a little bit of study to learn the numbers can really open up your play opportunities.D571_35

Here the Winds are laid out as they should be in play: East, South, West and North. You will note the Flowers are a slightly different color than the other tiles. This often happens in sets played with according to some Asian ways of play, because Flowers are often not used or are used as bonus tiles, thus they "age" differently.

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This set opened up quite a few eyes when it appeared on ebay. The open drawer revealed elaborate framed Craks, similar to some seen in the collection of the former Japan Mah Jong Museum. It is easy to see why so many people looked to see what the other tiles looked like.

 

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The Bams with their stylized leaves are fabulous. The winds have frames reminiscent of the strings of cash seen in some early sets.

 

 

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The Dots change from a flower within a flower on the One Dot to a flower within a circle on the others. The One Bam is a very stylized phoenix. As is the case with some sets designed for Asian play, there are no Flowers, although it is possible that the Flowers were lost along with one of the other tiles.

 

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This bird One Bam is quite delightful and somewhat rare.  I have only seen a few like this.

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It is part of this set of Chinese Bakelite tiles with green wafer backs. The carving is quite lovely and detailed. These tiles were not meant for export, and Western indices are missing. You will note there are numbers added to some of the tiles (the 5 and 6 Craks seem to have caused some confusion thus "needing" Arabic numbers) and letters and numbers added to the Flower tiles.

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The West and South caused problems too!

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The set came with this collection of counters and dice, the old and the new.

 

 

 

 

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The brass box with 5 drawers, tiles and wood racks
The brass box with 5 drawers, tiles and wood racks. Often a drawer would be used for counting/betting sticks, dice and mings which indicate wind direction.

 

This delightful brass box holds an equally lovely set of Mahjong tiles. The panel which forms the front of the box has a man in a boat, similar to those often seen on some Chinese Bakelite Flower tiles. The wood racks were early versions and were only used to keep a player's Mahjong tiles secret; when a tile was called, that grouping would be placed on the tabletop.

Small brass box with fine carving
Small brass box with fine etching and tile and quarter used for scale

Note the lovely flowers seen on the back of this box. As in many very expensive sets, this box was designed to have all its sides seen. The box handles are very heavy, giving an important look to the box.

Unusual Flower tiles and soaring swallow One Bam
Unusual Flower tiles and Soaring Swallow One Bam

The Flower tiles on this set feature modes of transportation and types of buildings. The unusual One Dots have linear interiors, and the others are circles within circles. The Bams are of the simple rod type. One of the Flowers features a man in a boat, similar to the one seen on the front panel of the box. The tiles are in exceptional condition, with few of the streaks often seen in the bone and bamboo sets. The counting sticks are smooth, unlike the more ragged appearance of those in less expensive sets.

http://www.invaluable.com/catalog/viewLot.cfm?afRedir=true&lotRef=4f482f267b&scp=c&ri=1350

 

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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!"