image interpretation

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As collectors and people who want to have a better understanding of images on Mahjong tiles, we look for sets that have something different about them. This set certainly does, including that wonderful One Bam we saw yesterday. You will quickly see the details making the set so unusual, especially in the lower row with the clothing and the facial painting on the third person from the left. The robe of the far left man has several longevity symbols on it, including on the sleeves and lower robe. The third person has spirals on the robe, and the fourth a floral pattern.

Ray Heaton has once again provided translations and an understanding of the story behind these Mahjong tiles.

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"I don't think there's a simple translation directly into English that'd make sense, so I have interpreted a bit.
 
Bottom set are 包公出世, Bao Gong Chu Shi.  
 
I think this translates effectively to 'the Biography of Bao Gong".  Bao Gong is also known as Judge or Justice Bao, Lord Bao and Bao Zheng.
 
Chu Shi (the second two characters) mean "to be born", but looking at other uses of the phrase, it probably means here "...the life of...", hence the translation suggested.
 
There is an opera with the same title"
"Bao Gong lived from the year 999 to 1062 and was a government officer during the reign of Emperor Renzong in the Song Dynasty. Bao consistently demonstrated extreme honesty and uprightness, with actions such as sentencing his own uncle, impeaching an uncle of Emperor Renzong's favourite concubine and punishing powerful families. His appointment from 1057 to 1058 as the prefect of Song's capital Kaifeng, where he initiated a number of changes to better hear the grievances of the people, made him a legendary figure."
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Top set set, 狸貓換子.  Li Mao Huan Zi.  The first two are "Leopard Cat", a small wild cat from Asia.  Third one means "to exchange", and the last one means "child".

 
This is referring to the "Wild Cat Exchanged for Crown Prince" episode (in full, there's one more character for this, 狸貓換太子)."
From Wikipedia:

Wild Cat Exchanged for Crown Prince (狸貓換太子): Bao Zheng met a woman claiming to be the mother of the current Emperor Renzong. Dozens of years ago, she had been Consort Li, an imperial concubine of Emperor Zhenzong's, before falling out of favor for supposedly giving birth to a bloody dead Chinese wild cat. What really happened was a jealous Consort Liu plotting with eunuch Guo Huai to secretly swap Li's infant son with a skinned Chinese wild cat minutes after birth. The infant eventually became Emperor Renzong, but he refused to accept Bao's findings. As Kou Zhu, the palace maid who defied orders to help smuggle the baby to safety, had already died, getting a confession from Guo Huai presented a challenge. With the help of a woman dressed as Kou's ghost, Bao dressed himself as the hell overlord Yama and used Guo's fear of the supernatural and guilt to extract the confession. After the verdict was out, Bao also ordered a set of beatings for the emperor for failing to oblige filial piety; the emperor's Dragon Robe was beaten instead. Eventually Emperor Renzong accepted Consort Li and elevated her as the new Empress Dowager.

To read more about Bao Gong, click here

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

Thank you, Ray!

 

 

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This bone and bamboo Mahjong set of Flowers bears studying.

Some of the images are somewhat difficult to really understand but a few come readily to mind.

Ray Heaton has helped with translations of these Mahjong tiles.

"Top row with the green Chinese characters are the Four Noble Professions: 漁樵耕讀, Yu, Qiai, Geng, Dou or Fisherman, to Gather Wood (an abbreviated way of saying Woodcutter), to Plow and Read (or to Study). These represent Fisherman, Woodcutter, Farmer and Scholar.  The images on the tiles representing "tools of the trade".
You can see the fishing creel and line on tile 1, the axe in the lower left corner on tile 2, the rake on tile 3 and symbols of reading and writing on 4. What's also fun is to see other images in the background: the umbrella used to shade the fisherman on 1, the trees, twigs gathered into a bundle and birds on 2, perhaps crops (rice?) growing in the foreground and trees in the background on 3, and what appears to be a lamppost in the back and candle burning on tile 4.
"Bottom row with the red Chinese characters are 琹棋書畫, Qin, Qi, Shu, Hua; these are the Guqin or Zither, Chinese chess or Go, Calligraphy and Painting.  The last character is more like the simplified character 画.  "

These Mahjong tiles also are intriguing. Tile 1 clearly is a musical instrument, but it appears with what looks like a steaming pot on a stand with other pots behind. Tile 2 has a real teapot, mugs and part of a board for the game of Go. Tile 3 looks like an abstract desk used for calligraphy. Tile 4 is quite interesting. Clearly there is an abacus, what looks like a ruler, a building and a pennant. It is very hard to make out what is written on the pennant, but it may be all about pursuing knowledge, as this is what is associated with the work of the scholar. Note the use of the diagonal going from lower left to upper right on all four Mahjong tiles.

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This is a wonderful bone and bamboo Mahjong set, with thick bone tiles. Many of you will remember seeing this Phoenix before.  It probably was the big selling point for the set. Phoenixes were only "seen"in times of good fortune, so they are strongly associated with good luck. This one seems to be quite prideful, with a fabulous strut.

From Wikipedia:
The fenghuang has very positive connotations. It is a symbol of high virtue and grace. The fenghuang also symbolizes the union of yin and yang. Shan Hai Jing's 1st chapter “Nanshang Jing” records each part of fenghuang's body symbolizes a word, the head represents virtue (德), the wing represents duty (義), the back represents propriety (禮), the abdomen says credibility (信) and the chest represents mercy (仁).[4]

In ancient and modern Chinese culture, they can often be found in the decorations for weddings or royalty, along with dragons. This is because the Chinese considered the dragon and phoenix symbolic of blissful relations between husband and wife, another common yin and yang metaphor.

In some traditions it appears in good times but hides during times of trouble, while in other traditions it appeared only to mark the beginning of a new era.[5] In China and Japan it was a symbol of the imperial house, and it represented "fire, the sun, justice, obedience, and fidelity."

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

The other Mahjong Bams have an unusual quality as well, with a cross between the columnar Bams we saw recently and the more rounded ones we often see.

The One Dots have a lovely plum blossom center, set within a floral outer circle. The remaining Dots have a modern circular look. The Craks have the elaborate Wan and green Arabic numbers with greatly decorative flourishes.

Each flower vase is unique, and each has a different plant. It is believed a scholar's rock is next to each vase. Notice how the plants almost interact with the rocks at their side, with echoing designs on each Mahjong tile. The Flowers have Chinese words for seasons on the left and plants on the right.

The phoenix remains an important symbol in China today. At the Cathedral of St John the Divine, a huge sculpture by Xu Bing is going on display.

http://www.stjohndivine.org/programs/art/upcoming-exhibitions

 

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This continues the discussion of the bone and bamboo Mahjong set from yesterday.

Looking at these antique bone and bamboo Mahjong tiles one is immediately struck by how bold and vivid the colors still are. Red is used for the letters on all tiles except for the Red Dragon, where green is used for contrast. Red letters used for Honors are somewhat unusual, but red is considered by the Chinese to be a good luck color, so it is not surprising to find it here.

From Wikipedia:

"Red, corresponding with fire, symbolizes good fortune and joy. Red is found everywhere during Chinese New Year and other holidays and family gatherings. A red envelope is a monetary gift which is given in Chinese society during holiday or special occasions. The red color of the packet symbolizes good luck. Red is strictly forbidden at funerals as it is a traditionally symbolic color of happiness;[1] however, as the names of the dead were previously written in red, it may be considered offensive to use red ink for Chinese names in contexts other than official seals.

In modern China, red remains a very popular color and is affiliated with and used by the Communist government."

Something about the Green Dragon with its red F (Fa for prosperity) makes it seem almost Christmasy!  The varied carving of the Western letters is fun to look at too.

You can read more from Wikipedia about the symbolism of colors in China here

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The tiles on the left represent the seasons, with the East a peony, West a Chrysanthemum, and South a lotus

From Primaltrek"Because the Buddha is often depicted as seated on a lotus, the lotus is considered a sacred Buddhist symbol (one of Eight Auspicious Symbols) representing purity and detachment from worldly cares.The lotus signifies the seventh month of the lunar calendar.The Chinese word for lotus is lianhua (莲花) or hehua (荷花).  Lian is also the pronunciation of the word for continuous (连) and he is also the pronunciation for the word harmony (和) so the lotus has the hidden meaning of "continuous harmony".A lotus stem and lotus pod shown together symbolize marital harmony and sexual union.Lotus seeds (lianzi 莲 籽) have the hidden meaning of "continuous birth of children" because the lian sounds like "continuous" (连) and the zi has the same pronunciation as the word for son or child (zi 子)."

 

For more about the lotus from Primaltrek, click here 

The Right tiles are also visually interesting. Note how in tile 1 the birds are quite similar to the Chinese , so the 1 almost becomes a bird. On tile 3 we see a pennant which often appears on Mahjong tiles, and a pagoda. And on 4 the small boat among the reeds: the cover of the boat and the reeds echo each other.

Thanks to Ray Heaton we have a translation of the Flowers on the right:

"They are 一統山河, Yi Tong Shan He, which means to "unify the whole country".
 
This could be a reference to the post Qing era where the country was united under the
nationalists, the rise and take over of the country of the communists or (and my preference)
all the way back to the Han dynasty unifying the country after the fall of the Qin."

 

We thank mahjongmahjong for providing these photographs. For more treasures in their collection click here

 

 

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Carol Ann Harper "CHarli" has a writeup about Pung Chow

http://www.charli.org/Mah_Jong/Museum/PungChow/index.htm

The swooping crane One Bam and the flat ended Bams, the simple wans with Arabic numbers, and the Dots going from a stylized flower center to circles within circles appear in these mahjong sets.

The Winds are standard, but the Dragons are highly unusual, and probably were one of the selling points for the game. Who can resist those beautiful creatures?

The Flowers deserve some study, however. They all have the Western letters for the seasons, but the top row has the Chinese words for seasons, whereas the bottom one has the words for the four flowers.

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The interest in showing different forms of architecture appears on these tiles as it does in other sets such as those by the Mah-Jongg Sales Company of America, one of Pung Chow's biggest competitors in those early days.

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It is clear the images are quite similar, but the Pung Chow designers have a more streamlined approach. The mountains and hills in the background have turned into triangular pyramidal shapes. And don't you love the birds? Look carefully at the South and you will see a bird flying up to the sky, as opposed to all the others flying downward.

And now for the forms of transportation:

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You can see how Pung Chow's images are simpler here too, but birds still are included on three of the tiles. (The only bird in the Mah-Jongg version is the duck seen on tile 4 under the tree.) The hills are  triangular here too.

To see another write-up about forms of transportation on this site, click here

 

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We often see ladies on Flower tiles. The ladies in the top row are performing a Chinese long sleeve dance. They are goddesses, as seen by the round stylized clouds at their feet. The Chinese have a long tradition of long sleeve dance. Here are a couple of paragraphs from Wikipedia:

"Qin-Han period

Historical texts mentioned many dances in this period, for example a sword dance is mentioned in a story where the dance was performed during an attempt to assassinate Liu Bang (who later founded the Han Dynasty) at the Hongmen Banquet.[18] The event at the banquet was also said to form the basis of the "Gong Mo" Dance (公莫舞) - "Gong Mo" literally means "Sir, Don't!" and describes the blocking action by Xiang Bo during the sword dance to prevent the assassination.[19] "Gong Mo" Dance was later known as Scarf Dance (巾舞), where a long scarf is held in both hands similar to today's Long Silk Dance. Liu Bang was also said to be fond the war dance of the Ba people called Bayu dance (巴渝, given various names such as Zhaowu, 昭武 in later dynasty), and large scale performances of the dance involved the brandishing of various weapons to the accompaniment of drums and songs in the Ba language.[20]

During the Qin and Han period, the imperial court established the yuefu (literally, Music Bureau), which was responsible for collecting folk music and dances for performances at the court. A popular dance of the Han Dynasty was the Long Sleeve Dance and there are many images and sculptures of the period depicting dances with long sleeves. This is a dance tradition that dates back to the earlier period and one still performed today.[21] The sleeve may be long and narrow, or long and wide, or similar to the "water sleeves" (水袖, long flowing detachable silk sleeves extended at the wrist) used in today's Chinese opera. Historical texts also recorded dances where the dancers danced bending at the waist while moving their sleeves. Other dances included the Drum Dance (鞞舞), Bell Dance (鐸舞), Sabre Dance, and mixed couple dance.[22]"

For more information about Chinese dance, click here

And to see a quick video, click here

The goddesses on the bottom row are playing musical instruments, perhaps playing the music the long sleeve goddesses are dancing to! We can see the

Guqin

flute,

perhaps a pipa

and ruan

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The Winds are what we normally see, as are the Dragons below.

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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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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.