Page 472 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

296 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

{shih liu) for June, (6) Lotus {lien hua) for July, (7) Pear {hai Vang)
for August, (8) Mallow {ch'iu k'uei) for September, (9) Chrysanthemum
(chii) for October, (10) Gardenia {chih hua) for November, (11)

Poppy {ying su) for December, (12) Prunus {jnei hua) for January.
From these are selected four to represent the seasons mu-tan peony
for spring, lotus for summer, chrysanthemum for autumn, and

—prunus for winter which supply charming motives for panel decora-

tion or for the sides of quadrangular vases.
The chrysanthemum besides is associated with its admirer

T'ao Yiian-ming, and the lotus with Chou Mao-shu and the poet Li
T'ai-po. But as a rule the floral designs carry some hidden meaning,
the flowers being grouped so as to suggest some felicitous phrase
by a play on their names. ^ The peony we have seen to be the fu
kuei (riches and honours) flower ; the chrysanthemum, as Dr. Laufer

has suggested, being the flower of the ninth (chiu) month, may con-

note longevity through the word chiu (long-enduring) ; the prunus
(mei hua) carries the obvious suggestion of mei (beautiful), and
instances might easily be multiplied.

Among the trees, the cassia suggests literary honours, the willow
longevity, as also the pine, bamboo and plum, who are called the

"three friends," ^ faithful even in the "winter of our discontent."

Among the fruits the gourd is an emblem both of long life and of

—fertility, and the three fruits {san kuo) peach, pomegranate and
—finger citron symbolise the Three Abundances of Years, Sons and

Happiness. The orange is a symbol of good luck, and no doubt
the others which occur less frequently contain similar suggestions.

Landscape {shan shui) is one of the four main divisions of Chinese
pictorial art, and it is well represented in porcelain decoration.
The Sung and Ming masters provided designs which were freely copied,
and views of the beauty spots of China and of the celebrated parks
and pleasure grounds were frequently used. It is one of these land-
scapes which the English potters borrowed for the familiar " willow
pattern " design, and the sentimental tale which some fanciful writer
has attached to the pattern is a mere afterthought. Figure subjects
and landscapes are combined in many designs, such as the meeting
of sages, romantic incidents, besides the more homely motives of
field work, fishing, rustics returning from the plough mounted on
their oxen, and the like. The four seasons, too, are represented in

1 See p. 300.
- They also symbolise the three friends, Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-tzu.