Fig. 3.—The Pa pao
The figurative aspect of Chinese decoration has been repeatedly noticed, and occasional examples of direct play upon words or rebus devices have been given incidentally. The Chinese language is peculiarly suited for punning allusions, one sound having to do duty for many characters; but it is obvious that a fair knowledge of the characters is required for reading these rebus designs. There is, however, a certain number of stock allusions with which the collector can easily make himself familiar. The commonest of these is perhaps the bat (fu) which symbolises happiness (also pronounced fu in Chinese). The Five Blessings (wu fu), which consist of longevity, riches, peacefulness and serenity, love of virtue and an end crowning the life, are suggested by five bats; and a further rebus is formed of red bats among cloud scrolls, reading hung fu ch’i t’ien, “great happiness equally heaven” (t’ien); hung being the sound of the character for “great, vast,” as well as for red, and red being, so to speak, the colour of happiness in Chinese eyes.
Other common rebus designs are suggested by such words as lu (deer), lu (preferment); yü (fish), yü (abundance); ch’ing (sounding stone), ch’ing (good luck); ch’ang (the intestinal knot), ch’ang (long); and the composition of the rebus phrase often includes such ideas as lien (lotus), lien (connect, combine); tieh (butterfly), tieh (to double). But almost every sound in the Chinese spoken language represents a considerable number of characters, and it would be possible with a little ingenuity to extract several rebus sentences out of any complicated decoration. It is well to remember, however, that most of the ordinary allusions have reference to some good wish or felicitous phrase bearing on the five blessings, on the three abundances or on literary success.
To quote a few further instances: the design of nine (chiu) lions (shih) sporting with balls (chü) of brocade has been read[521] chiu shih t’ung chü, “a family of nine sons living together.” An elephant (hsiang) carrying a vase (p’ing) on its back (pei) is read[522] hsiang pei tai p’ing, “Peace (p’ing) rules in the north (pei).” A tub full of green wheat is read[523] i t’ung ta ch’ing, “the whole empire (owns) the great Ch’ing dynasty.” Three crabs holding reeds is read[524] san p’ang hsieh ch’uan lu, “three generations gaining the first class at the metropolitan examinations.” Two pigeons perched on a willow tree is read[525] êrh pa (k’o) t’eng t’ê, “at eighteen to be successful in examinations.”
A group of three objects consisting of a pencil brush (pi), a cake of ink (ting) and a ju-i sceptre crossed one over the other (Fig. 4), occurs both in the field of the decoration and as a mark under the base. It is a pure rebus, reading pi ting ju i, may things be fixed (ting) as you wish (ju i, lit. according to your idea). Another obvious rebus which occurs as a mark (Fig. 5) consists of two peaches and a bat (double longevity and happiness), and floral designs are very commonly arranged so as to suggest rebus phrases.
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
But the Chinese decorator did not always express himself in riddles. Inscriptions are frequent on all forms of decorative work, as is only natural in a country where calligraphy ranks among the highest branches of art. To the foreign eye Chinese writing will not perhaps appear so ornamental as the beautiful Neshky characters which were freely used for decorative purposes on Persian wares; but for all that, its decorative qualities are undeniable, and to the Chinese who worship the written character it is a most attractive kind of ornament. Sometimes the surface of a vessel is almost entirely occupied by a long inscription treating of the ware or of the decoration which occupies the remaining part; but more often the writing is limited to an epigram or a few lines of verse. The characters as a rule are ranged in columns and read from top to bottom, the columns being taken from left to right; and rhyming verse is written in lines of three, five or seven characters each. The inscriptions are often attested by the name or the seal of the author. The Emperor Ch’ien Lung, a prolific writer of verses, indited many short poems on the motives of porcelain decoration, and these have been copied on subsequent pieces.