Basket.—One of the Chinese Buddhist ornaments.
Bat.—A Chinese design which is symbolic of happiness. Found quite commonly in the Chinese fabrics. Five bats often appear in the centre of Chinese rugs and represent riches, longevity, health, love of virtue and peaceful end.
Beads.—The rosary was anciently used to record time, and a circle, being a line without termination, was the natural emblem of its perpetual continuity; hence we find circles of beads upon the heads of deities and enclosing the sacred symbols upon coins and other ornaments. Beads are always carried by the Mohammedans to assist them in their prayers. The Moslem rosary consists of ninety-nine beads, each one designating one of the ninety-nine beautiful names of Allah.
Bee.—In China it is symbolic of many descendants. In India it has been adopted from British associations and represents industry, but is not regarded as an old symbol.
Beetle or Scarabæus.—A Chinese symbol of creation, resurrection or new life. In India it is a symbol of royalty. Wings of the gold beetle are used in decorating peacock feather fans and morchels or royal fly flaps. As the blue beetle it represents one that lives on honey and is portrayed near the form of a young lady whose lotus-like face it is supposed to have mistaken for that flower.
Boar.—In India a boar with a ball on its right tusk represents Vishnu the Protector in his third incarnation when he lifted up and saved the earth from being engulfed by the great flood (the deluge).
Bouquet, see Pear.
Butterfly.—The Chinese symbol of vanity. In India it was not used in the older decoration, but in modern decoration it has the associations of a flirt, owing to English environments. Butterfly forms are frequently found in Chinese rugs intermingled with those of bats.