Page 467 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Motives of the Decoration 291

key-fret is called by the Chinese. Afterwards the Vao t'ieh seems
to have been regarded, on homoeopathic principles, as a warning
against greed. Demons also appear in complete form in certain
battle scenes and conflicts, such as the combat of the demons of the
water and of air which proceeds in front of a group of Chinese
dignitaries seated in the Kin-shan temple on the Yangtze river

(see Plate 134, Fig. 2).

The sky and the stars of course contribute their quota of divinities.

Beside the Taoist star-gods of Longevity, Honours and Happiness,

there is the Jade Emperor or supreme lord of the universe, Yii wang

shang ti, who is represented in mandarin dress holding a ju-i sceptre

and closely resembling Lu Hsing, the star-god of Honours. There is,

too, the goddess of the Moon with a butterfly ornamenting the front

of her robes, and a mirror in her right hand, besides the other denizens

—of the moon Liu Han, the moon-hare and the moon-toad. A

cassia tree also grows in the moon, and the " cassia of the moon "

is a symbol of literary success.

The Sun is represented as a disc on which is a three-legged bird
;

and it is probable that the sun-disc is represented also in the so-called

" pearl " ^ which is pursued or grasped by dragons ; but this idea

of the power of the storm threatening the sun was lost sight of in

later art, and " a dragon pursuing a pearl " was considered a sufficient

Adescription of the motive. curious scene depicting a mandarin

shooting arrows at a dog in the sky alludes to the dog who devours

the sun and so causes the eclipse.

The zodiacal animals are named on p. 211 (vol. i), and the four

points of the compass are symbolised by the azure dragon for the

East, the white tiger for the West, the black tortoise for the North,
and the red bird for the South. The romance of two stars is
embodied in the story of the Spinning Maiden {Chih Nil) and her

lover, the Cowherd {ChHen Niu), who are separated for all the year

save on one night when the " magpies fill up the Milky Way and

enable the Spinning Damsel to cross over."

Chang Ch'ien, the celebrated minister of Han Wu-ti, was one of
the first great travellers of China, and among the legends which

grew around his exploits is one which makes him ascend the Milky

Way and meet the Spinning Damsel herself. This story arose because

he was reputed to have discovered the source of the Yellow River,
which had hitherto been supposed to rise in heaven, being in fact a

1 The Buddhist pearl or jewel, which grants every wish.