Plate 7. House of Wu Tsung-Chih of Sin Shui,
with Swastika in Railing.
From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U. S. National
Museum by Mr. Yang Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D. C.
Plate 8. Mountain or Wild Date.—Fruit
Resembling the Swastika.
From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U. S. National
Museum by Mr. Yang Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D. C.
The Ts’ing-I-Luh, by Tao Kuh, of the Sung Dynasty, records that an Empress in the time of the South Tang Dynasty had an incense burner the external decoration of which had the Swastika design on it. [[Pl. 6.]]
Chu I-Tsu, in his work entitled Ming Shih Tsung, says Wu Tsung-Chih, a learned man of Sin Shui, built a residence outside of the north gate of that town, which he named “Wan-Chai,” from the Swastika decoration of the railings about the exterior of the house. [[Pl. 7.]]
An anonymous work, entitled the Tung Hsi Yang K’ao, described a fruit called shan-tsao-tse (mountain or wild date), whose leaves resemble those of the plum. The seed resembles the lichee, and the fruit, which ripens in the ninth month of the year, suggests a resemblance to the Swastika. [[Pl. 8.]]
The Swastika is one of the symbolic marks of the Chinese porcelain. Prime[110] shows what he calls a “tablet of honor,” which represents a Swastika inclosed in a lozenge with loops at the corners ([fig. 31]). This mark on a piece of porcelain signifies that it is an imperial gift.