Page 26 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Creature
Mythical
................................................................................
This charming creature was carved from frequently loosely based on images found in
Qing dynasty, 18th century
a piece of yellow nephrite of noticeable woodblock-printed manuals on good taste,
Nephrite
Works of
translucency. yellow jade are rarer in showing antiquities and other collectibles, is
H. 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
Chinese hard-stone tradition than those in often hard to characterize. However, this beast
R.
Gft ofHeber Bishop, 1902 shades of green and white. The color appears seems to be closest in type to the mythical
02.18.398 to have first become available during the Yuan lion-dogs that have guarded entryways to
In
and early Ming periods. late-Ming guides temples, homes, and public spaces for centuries.
to elegant living it is often listed among the It has the same broad face with large teeth and
most desirable of hues and described as resem- wavy mane and tail of the more common stone
bling "steamed chestnuts." Yellow jade was and ceramic representations but lacks the ball
also favored during the eighteenth century, or puppy often associated with lion-dogs,
probably as a result of the fascination for the particularly when they are paired.
art of the Ming dynasty that marked that era. These animals are thought to be a combi-
Animals, both real and imaginary, play an nation of the regal lion of early Indian culture
important role in Chinese hard-stone carvings. and the celestial dogs of early Chinese mythol-
Mythical creatures were particularly favored ogy, and their protective function incorporates
during the earliest phases of Chinese culture the powers of both. They are often known asfo
and again during the late Ming dynasty, when dogs in the West. Fo is Chinese for "Buddha,"
works such as this one were used both as paper- and the term derives from the pairs of lion-
weights and as decorations for the desk. The dogs commonly placed in Buddhist temples
iconography of these creatures, which is throughout Asia. DPL

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