Page 48 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

20 CHINESE PORCELAIN.

on are also to be found
unfrequently depicted porcelain. They
as separate figures, standing or seated. Sometimes they orna-
ment the edges of plates, standing on various animals among
the waves of the sea, and their symbols occasionally occur as
devices."
Nos. 1, 3. Han Chung-le. — " Said to have lived under the
Chow which lasted from B.C. 1122-249, and to have
dynasty,
obtained possession of the elixir of immortality. He is gene-
as a fat man with a bare and holds in
rally represented belly,
his hand a fan, with which he is said to revive the souls of
the dead. His emblem is a fan (shari). He is also known
'
as Chung-le-Kwan (see No. 3). But he is also sometimes
with a in his hand, as in No. 1 also
represented peach (see
No.
233).
Nos. 2, 4. Le Tee-kwae. — " It is uncertain when he lived
;
he was instructed in Taoist lore by Lao Tsze himself, who
used to summon him to interviews in the celestial
spheres.
To do this his had to leave his which he entrusted
spirit body,
to the care of a On one occasion the disci was
disciple. j)le
summoned away, and when the disembodied spirit returned
the body was gone. Le Tee-kwae therefore took refuge in
the body of a lame beggar, in whose shape he continued his
existence, supporting himself on a crutch or staff. His emblem
is the pilgrim's gourd (hu-lu), and he holds a staff in his
hand." In No. 2 he is as
represented standing on a crab,
and in No. 4 accompanied by a deer, one of the emblems of
longevity.
No. 5. Ho Seen-koo. — " Stated to have been the
daughter
of Ho Tai, of Tseng-cheng, near Canton. She used to indulge
in solitary wanderings among the hills; and, rejecting the
food of mortals, ate the of
ordinary powder mother-of-pearl,
which was supposed to produce immortality. She was sum-
moned to the court of the Empress Wu (a.d. 690-705), but
on her She carries in her hand a lotus flower
way disappeared. "
which forms her emblem
(leen-hwa), (see 283).
— "
No. 6. Leu Tung-pin, born a.d. 755. While a magistrate
of the district of Teh-hwa, he is said to have encountered Han
Chung-le among the recesses of the Lu Shan, from whom he
learnt the of and of the elixir of immor-
mysteries alchemy
He was to a series of ten in
tality. exposed temptations,