Page 28 - Metropolitan Museum Collection September 2016

Lots 872, 873

Lot 892 Some designs on famille verte were more elaborate, such as those
26 depicting scenes from drama. The fne lantern (lot 903), with walls
of porcelain thin enough to transmit light, bears episodes from the
classic love story “Romance of the Western Chamber” 西廂記.
Running round the six panels, one sees the hero, Scholar Zhang,
riding towards the capital to take part in the imperial examinations,
accompanied by his servant. Overnight he stays at Puzhao temple,
where he meets the heroine Yingying, along with her old mother
and maid Hongniang. The hero can be seen meeting the maid in
secret, to act as go-between. The hero and heroine are with the
abbot of the monastery and another monk, and in another cameo
scholar Zhang asks the monks to send a letter to save Yingying
from besieging bandits. This tale was well-known to all Chinese,
but one wonders what Western customers understood from the
detailed scenes.

Equally incomprehensible must have been the archaism manifest
in the form and decoration of libation cups (lot 892). These small
items copy rhinoceros horn vessels carved from that very precious
material. Their painted decoration imitates archaic bronze, with
versions of taotie 饕餮 masks radiating from central fanges on the
sides. In contradiction to sober bronze, the porcelain cups are
painted in bright colours, having playful dragons with bifurcated
tails curled beneath the lip and the handle. Good wishes for
“long life” and “ten thousand good fortunes” are incorporated
into the designs.

Also conveying good fortune are the Buddhist lions supporting a
vase and a foreign rider (lot 902). Often called “Dogs of Fo” in
the West, the creatures in fact represented guardian lions. Lions
were unknown in China, with the result that the beasts often
resemble Pekinese dogs. Hence their Western name, though in
China they were never referred to as “dogs”. The Emperor, as ruler