Page 70 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

CHINESE PORCELAIN.
3*
taken the 99th at the of the
piece by Kegiment sacking
Summer Palace, and mentioned hereafter. The fillets are also on
the lotus in the vase No. 330, but although there is no speci-
men of the lotus without fillets in the pieces illustrated in this
work, as one of the eight it is to be met with without fillets.
A Chinese friend writes: "As regards the lotus never appearing
with fillets, this is so in drawings when it is displayed with
Buddhas, or other Buddhistic personages, because then the
flower itself is or when it as an
represented, appears merely
emblem of but when it is used as a sacred it has
purity; symbol,
the fillets to the halo, or sacred
represent rays."
No. 25. Two fishes. Franks, p. 240 : " Two fishes (yn)
united by fillets, and may allude to domestic felicity. A
freshwater fish, like a perch, was called Fu, and was supposed
to go about in pairs, faithful to each other. It has exactly the
"
same sound as Fu, ' Riches.'
"
281 for fish. From
Mayers, p. : Yu, the generic designation
the resemblance in structure between fish and birds, their ovi-
parous birth, and their adaptation to elements differing from that
of other created beings, the Chinese believe these creatures
to be interchangeable. Many kinds of fish are reputed as being-
transformed at stated seasons into birds. According to Ma
Yung, the scaly armour of the fish indicates it as a symbol of
martial attributes. When Kwan Chung was sent by Duke
Hwau of Ts'i to invite Ning Tsi to enter his service, the latter
words which the was at a loss
replied by chanting philosopher
to interpret. On returning to his home and musing in vain
over the enigmatical words, Kwan Chung was at length relieved
of his bewilderment by a clever handmaiden, who suggested
that a reference was intended to a line in the book of Odes,
where they occur in the signification of the sea and its produce.
By this exclamation Ning Tsi had intended to convey that
what is naturally joined should not be kept asunder, or, in
other words, that he for the bliss of From
longed marriage.
this incident the has into use as a for
phrase passed metaphor
the joys of union, especially of a sexual nature. Fish are
likewise reputed to swim in pairs, and hence they serve as an
emblem of marriage. The phrase * passing to and fro like a
'
fish and the is a for
goose metaphor epistolary correspondence,
reference being intended to various legends relating that