Page 119 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Wan Li (1573-1619) 6i

Sections of water melons {hsi kua pan). shou
Foreign pomegranates ; sometimes tied with fillets.
The sacred peach.
Medallions of peach boughs with the seal character

(longevity).
Apricot (hsing) foliage.
Pine pattern brocade.

Ginseng (hsien).
Hemp-leaved {ma yeh) Indian lotus.

Borders of bamboo foliage and branching prunus.

Grape-vine borders.

Animals, etc. :

Monsters : variously described as hai shou (sea monsters) and
i shou (strange monsters).

Nine blue monsters in red waves.
Strange monsters attending the celestial dragon.
Sea horses.
Full-faced dragons {cheng mien lung). See Plate 66.
Medallions of archaic dragons {chHh) and tigers.
Ascending and descending dragons.
Couchant, or squatting {tun) dragons.
Flying dragons.
The hundred dragons.
The hundred storks.
The hundred deer.
(As in the " Hundred Shou Characters " and other similar phrases^
the " hundred " is merely an indefinite numerative signifying a
large number.)
Elephants with vases of jewels (of Buddhistic significance).
Water birds in lotus plants.
Six cranes, " symbolising the cardinal points of the universe "
{liu ho chHen k'un).

Phoenixes among the season flowers.
Bees hovering round plum blossom.

Human

Men and women {shih nil).
Medallions with boys pulling down (branches of) cassia {p'an

kuei).