Tag Archives: Imperial Mahjong

•

BFAliliesmingdynrock

This lovely painting, dating from the Ming Dynasty, is in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. If you look closely right under the lilies, just to the right, you can just make out a rock, with perhaps another just to the back left. Terese Tse Batholomew says the pairing of a daylily and a rock symbolizes

"May the daylily and rock extend your years, or May you have sons and live long"

We often see rocks paired with potted plants on Flower tiles.

 

DSC_0596

Above, each rock is beside each plant here, each one almost the same size as the pot.

 

4 Flower Pots copy steve

In these two tiles the rocks have a bit more irregularity, more like scholar's stones that we will discuss in a future post.

 

DSC_0832 new

Above we have a Flower tile made by the Imperial Company of France. (The black gold-flecked material is Ebonite, a hard rubber.)

 

You might have noticed there is a bit of green on all the rocks seen above. This is a bit confusing, but there might be answer here, provided by Patricia Bjaaland Welch:

"The appearance of moss on a longevity stone intensifies the idea of seniority.."

 

•

metpart screenshot Ma Shouzhenming

In China the orchid is traditionally associated with spring. The polar vortex has left our area, after what seemed to most of us to be a very long stay, so it is time to celebrate. And how better than to look at orchids, some created by nature and others brought to us by artists. We will look at Mahjong tiles with this pairing, and a photograph of some real beauties on display in the Bronx.

The above ink work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was painted by Ma Shouzhen during the Ming Dynasty. Here is an orchid; a few of the delicate blooms have fallen to the ground, but some remain intact. As we have seen in some other posts, the artist has chosen to position the plant next to a rock, a very common theme in Chinese art.

In China the orchid represents  delicacy and elegance.  Patricia Bjaaland Welch, in her book Chinese Art   A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery

"They are specifically associated with women, love beauty and fertility; and secondly with virtue, moral elegance" and the refinement of a superior man who stands out in a crowd because of being a learned gentleman.

Rocks were often prized as objects of beauty, and we know they are objects of permanence. And so the rock with the orchid might be a play upon visual beauty, some of which is short lived and some permanent throughout time.

 

4 Flower Pots copy steve

Above we have a version of paired Mahjong flowers. The hand carved bone and bamboo tile flower on the left is the orchid, with a rock  just below the edge of the pot. Of course a rock appears in the other half of the diptych as well.

 

DSC_0633

Above a vase, holding a hand carved Mahjong tile orchid, has a rock right next to it. Again, it seems like some of the blossoms may have fallen, thus alluding to the impermanence of some kinds of beauty.

 

DSC_0832 new

Although not hand carved, these tiles by Imperial feature a vase of orchids and the rock beside them.

 

Orchid1

Above is a photo from a set by Selfridge's, with a paper face showing the orchid in a vase with a rock in a pot right behind. Clearly the pairing of the two was important enough to feature on all tiles of Mahjong tiles.

 

0214-TOS-Header-New-2

And we'll end with a photo of some other stars of the orchid show at the Bronx Botanical Garden, these exquisite pink orchids. There is no indication of nearby rocks, but, then again, this show is not Chinese art, but rather a celebration of the beauty of orchids. Given that the show ends today, it is another indication of the need to appreciate etherial beauty when we have a chance.

 

•

freersacklersunkehong1532-1610This ink drawing of bamboo growing in a pot, done by Sun Kehong who lived from 1532 until 1610, is in the Freer Sackler Collection.  People in China often had bamboo growing in pots in their homes.

 

DSC_0697 redone

On the hand carved Chinese Bakelite set we see above, you'll find bamboo in a pot on tile #4  (see, it is not always 3!) on the top row of Flowers.

 

DSC_0596

And above on these hand carved  bone and bamboo tiles, it's back on tile #3.  You will notice a longevity stone next to each pot, a common pairing .

 

DSC_0835

The somewhat genteel pot with bamboo growing can even be seen on these Imperial tiles which were made in France and have a rubber-like backing and plastic tile face. It is felt that red image to the left is probably a stone.

 

4 Flower Pots copy

And here, on the left, the hand-carved bone and bamboo tiles feature bamboo with a longevity stone yet again.