Yearly Archives: 2014

Dragons in Chinese Art and Mahjong: Carved Boxes Part 2 • 3 Comments

Kuan Yin • April 4, 2014

I think many of us will have to agree this is one of the most delightful dragon Mahjong boxes we have ever seen. * Instead of having just a deeply carved dragon on the lid, or a beautiful handle, the beautiful handle has become a three dimensional dragon, a piece of sculpture posed on top of the box. Look at the attention paid to him, the mouth with its teeth (tho not too big to be intimidating!), his nose and whiskers, his backward facing horns, his "chops" along the side of his face, five toed detailed claws, and curled tail encircling the back of his body. How fabulous is he? Surrounding him, on the border of the box, are flower petals and bats.

Interestingly on this Mahjong box, it really is all about dragons, unlike some of the other carved boxes we have seen where they simply put in an appearance and go away.

Here's the inside of the box where we see two dragons. If the dragon on the lid looks somewhat friendly, these guys are almost smiling! They are surrounding a circle (the sun?), and the shou symbol, right below it, representing longevity. In Patricia Bjaaland Welch's book Chinese Art A Guide to Visual Motifs and Visual Imagery, the round version of the shou that we see above may mean a wish that a person live his full life span and die a natural death. We also see the four bats above and below the disk, and an endless knot, a Buddhist symbol, just behind each dragon's tail. Each knot represents a long life, uninterrupted by set-backs. (Wolfram Eberhard A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols)

On the above photograph of the box and its Mahjong tiles, if you look carefully you can see there are dragons along the side of the box. The box is the home of a much-sought after Chinese Bakelite set. The tiles have green wafer backs which you can see in the photo. What is so exciting about this particular set, especially in terms of this post, is the One Bam and the One Dot.

This is no ordinary Mahjong One Dot. Instead of being a version of flower or circles, we have a dragon! You can clearly see the dragon's head, his nostrils and backward facing horns. Other parts of his body are seen in the top of the tile, where they resemble mountains, and right below where it resembles a wave, and the rest of his body is hidden either by clouds or water.

And here is the One Bam:

A phoenix! How divine is that! We have a real, fully dragon box housing a Mahjong set with both dragon and phoenix tiles! And the pairing of these two creatures is what we will be covering soon.

We thank Bill Price for sending these photos of his fabulous set to us, allowing us all to enjoy it.

* As many of you know, oftentimes boxes were not made for mahjong sets; rather boxes were appropriated from those often used for jewelry (some of the five drawer versions, or ones with two large opening doors) or in this case a small fully carved box.

The book I wrote with Ann Israel is being published by Tuttle. To see more about it:

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

Dragons in Chinese Art and Mahjong: Carved Boxes

Kuan Yin • April 3, 2014

Here we have a deeply carved dragon on the side of a mahjong box. Isn't he just fabulous?! He definitely has more of the camel's head and lack of mane we expect, and his body is covered with fish-like scales. His claws are somewhat rounded, in keeping with the rounded shapes of the clouds, which here are ruyi-shaped (the mushroom shape often seen in Chinese art.) Note the cross-hatching around the center panel, forming a frame.

This set above, auctioned off at Channel Islands Auctions, features a wonderful deep carved front panel. The flaming disk may well be the object he's fixated on, and he's in the sky, seen in the clouds. On both of the boxes we have just looked at, the dragon scene does not relate in any way to the scenes on the other sides of the box. It just must have made the set more appealing to the buyer. Dragons can also appear on box handles. Here is one such example:

Here's a handsome fellow who definitely was the reason the new owner bought this box! And now follows a view from the side:

You can notice his camel-like head, long whiskers, and short backward facing horns. The carved scene he is covering is one of combat, but it does not seem to relate to the dragon whatsoever, unless we take the dragon as the symbol of the ruler and this is a story of a young ruler learning the arts of combat? And now for what has been promised for the last few days: information about those wonderful dragon and pearl photographs we saw. The artist is Liu Bolin, who is represented by Eli Klein Sun Gallery in New York City. Liu Bolin has been dubbed the Invisible Man, because very often viewers do not know that they are seeing him when they are looking at one of his photographs. In many ways, it is similar to many of us who don't know what we are seeing when we look at the art on Mahjong tiles and sets, but we are learning!

Above is the artist posed in front of yet another dragon from the 9 Dragon Wall in Beihai Park in Beijing, with the wall seen in its entirety in the photograph below. There is another 9 Dragon Wall in the Forbidden City.

We thank the people at Klein Sun Gallery, and invite you to explore more of the art and artists represented there.

To learn more about Liu Bolin, here are a few links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Bolin

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/11/liu-bolin-the-invisible-man/100623/

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/04/06/134666588/chinese-artist-attempts-to-blend-in-literally

Dragons in Chinese Art and Mahjong Part 5 • 1 Comment

Kuan Yin • April 2, 2014

Dragons also appear on painted and lacquered boxes. You may remember seeing this dragon Mahjong box before, but it is hard to get tired of dragons! Here you can clearly see the dragon, frolicking in the clouds and partly obscured by them. His body is covered in scales, whiskers and horns are seen on his head, his five toes are splayed, and the flaming symbol of wisdom is within his sights. ( On this box, as in other Chinese art, fire is shown by squiggly lines like those just in front of the dragon and surrounding the "pearl", and clouds are those large round shapes, although they can often be much smaller.) If the dragon represents the ruler of China, as was believed, it certainly would be good if he were able to get a hold of that wisdom right within his grasp!

On another post we had a different interpretation of the dragon and pearl, but in Chinese art several different interpretations often are correct.

This dragon and disk is from another Mahjong box. The dragon is leonine, down to the mane surrounding his head. You'll notice the scales of the dragon are different than the ones on the other box, much bigger and less reptilian. The silver inlay is not actually silver, nor is it paint. Rather it is paktong, a substance also known as cupronickel. Paktong is an anglicization of the Chinese word. It can be found on box handles and other box trim, so if you have silver looking handles or trim on your box, it may well be paktong. The above box is in the process of being restored, having lost some lacquer, etc. A photo will be taken when it comes back.

From wikipedia:

"Cupronickel or copper-nickel is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese."

...

"A more familiar common use is in silver-coloured modern circulation coins. A typical mix is 75% copper, 25% nickel, and a trace amount of manganese. In the past, true silver coins were debased with cupronickel. Despite high copper content, cupronickel is silver in color."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupronickel

And now for our dragon photo of the day:

Here you see the dragon and "pearl." He is in the water's waves, his body with large scales has flames surrounding his limbs, and his claws certainly resemble those of a hawk!

Information about this and the other dragon images seen the last few days will appear on April 3rd.

Dragons in Chinese Art and Mahjong Part 4

Kuan Yin • April 1, 2014

These beautiful lacquer racks belonging to Katherine Hartman showcase some of the wonderful painting you can see on Mahjong accessories. Very talented artists designed and painted racks. The type seen here has a top shelf that slides back to reveal betting counters stored within. On the above racks, your eye would have been quickly drawn, by the brightness of the color and the wonderful design, to the dragons and pearl rack, second from the top. We already touched upon this topic, and here we will explore it a bit more in depth in connection with the dragon series, having to do with Mahjong accessories and the dragon and "pearl" pairing.

According to Patricia Bjaaland Welch in Chinese Art A guide to Visual Motifs and Visual Imagery, the pairing of dragons and pearls (or round disk or jewel) started in the Tang Dynasty (which ran from 618 until 906). She feels Robert D. Mowry offers the right explanation, that the dragon and disk represent elements from two traditions, the dragon from Chinese mythology and the jewel from Buddhism. The "pearl" may not actually be a pearl but a talismanic jewel that symbolizes wisdom. Welch adds the jewel often is seen surrounded by flames, adding to the belief that it represents the sun, but flames are often seen in Buddhist art, symbolizing magical powers.

We saw this dragon robe (Qing Dynasty) from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on an earlier post. You'll note here the dragon is surrounding a flaming object. Here it certainly does not resemble a pearl, but more like a disk, adding credence to the disk or jewel interpretation.

Above is a porcelain bowl from the Lucas Collection. You'll see a round disk, somewhat resembling a sand dollar, right in front of the dragon.

Above is another lacquer rack, quite different in appearance than the first dragon rack we saw. The dragons are hidden in the clouds, represented by the circular swirls. Two dragons surround the flaming disk; this type of two dragon rack is used by three out of the four players at a table.

The original East player has one with just one dragon.

And another wonderful dragon and "pearl" screen shot. Come visit the site tomorrow for another "photograph screen shot" and the information behind it.

Dragons in Chinese Art and Mahjong Part 3 • 1 Comment

Kuan Yin • March 31, 2014

Yesterday we touched upon reasons Mahjong sets become objects of desire. For many collectors, these dragons made by the Coronet Company, are the selling points. Who can resist these smoke blowing creatures?

These Dragons above, from an unknown manufacturer, have many of the features we have seen before, including horns and whiskers. Interestingly, the White Dragon is not a Dragon at all but a snake, one of the five poisonous creatures, often embroidered on children's clothing to ward off venomous dangers! The White Dragon appears a bit like some of the very elongated dragons we have seen before. The two Dragons have four toes, so these dragons were allowed to be used by low ranking officials. (Welch)

This Cardinal Company pair above has a red elongated Dragon as the Red, and the more squat Green one, very similar to that of the Royal Depth Control Dragon, seen below.

But look at these last two Green Dragons, they aren't like any dragons we have seen before! Why? We have yet to see a dragon with wings!! This must have been an attempt to appeal to the Western market, and was a real departure from Chinese dragons.

To refresh what Chinese dragons look like, we have a porcelain from the Lucas Collection ( as far as I can gather Lucas was the Director of the Asian Art Institute in Australia. ) Note the absence of wings on the dragon.

To end this post, look carefully at this screenshot of a photograph of a Dragon in China. More information and leads will be forthcoming, in a few days.

Mahjong tiles courtesy of Mahjongmahjong.

Dragons in Chinese Art and Mahjong Part 2

Kuan Yin • March 30, 2014

In Mahjong, as in Chinese art, dragons are depicted in different positions. In this post we will see them upright, from the side.

Many Mahjong companies gave a lot of attention to the designs of their dragons. Sometimes the creatures are so wonderful they become the reasons sets are bought.

The designs seen above certainly could have been why the above set, believed to be made of casein by the Waterbury Button Company, would have been sought after. The Dragons have five toes, putting them in the category of dragons associated with the top ranks of officials in ranks one to three, and the royal family, according to Patricia Bjaaland Welch.

Pung Chow, which made sets of pyralin, prided itself on its Dragons

and billed itself as the set with the Real Dragons. I think it is impossible to tell how many claws these have.

A version of this type of dragon can be seen below, on a screen being offered for sale by Holly Auctions.

And below there's a closeup of the terrific dragon head

The platter below, auctioned off at Sothebys, has another fabulous upright dragon.

This porcelain dates from the Kangxi period, which lated from 1654 until 1722. You'll notice the center dragon and the dragons around the side too. The rounded images surrounding him are clouds.

Upright dragons also appeared on wood tiles.

Don't forget this one by the Murok Company in Canada!

Dragons in Chinese Art and Mahjong

Kuan Yin • March 29, 2014

We have touched upon the importance of the dragon in Chinese mythology and art before on this website, but here we will go into greater detail.

The dragon has long been important to the Chinese. According to Patricia Bjaaland Welch in Chinese Art A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, the dragon is the highest ranking animal in the animal hierarchy, and it has been loved throughout Chinese history. The dragon in the photograph above, in the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is an example of an early dragon. It's a vessel with a dragon's head, dating from the Western Jin Dynasty which ran from 265 until 316.

The Dragon is typically shown in profile, but as we saw on some photographs which appeared on this website, it often is facing the viewer. This is especially the case on Imperial robes; given that this creature was long associated with the Imperial family, it is no surprise its image appears on many objects associated with the life of the royal family.

The above robe is from the Metropolitan Museum's collection. It dates from the Qing Dynasty which lasted from 1644 until 1911.

Does this look familiar? Here the Imperial Dragon is the inside of a Mah Jongg box.

And here it is the rule book for the set.

Another dragon, auctioned off by Sothebys, this time is the top of a container. Its body is wrapped around the neck. He bears a certain resemblance to the bone and bamboo tile which follows it.

This wonderful mahjong dragon is almost facing us. You can only see some of its body because the rest is obscured by clouds.

Don't you love the claws sticking out of the clouds?

But more often we see the dragon in profile, or in a partial side view. Following are two such dragons.

These White Dragons were carved by Dee Gallo. You can notice the whiskers, and long body; the red feet are the best!

According to Welch, the traditional Chinese dragon has body parts from nine different animals "the head of a camel, horns of a deer, eyes of a rabbit, ears of a cow, neck of a snake, belly of a frog, scales of a carp, claws of a hawk, and palm of a tiger." It may be hard to see all of those aspects of the dragon's body, especially on small Mahjong tiles, but it is easy to see the camel head, the horns of a deer, and the scales of a carp on the tiles above.

And of course you remember these wonderful dragons, from an earlier post:

and

These dragons are showing four toes, which is significant in Chinese art. (Of course every detail is significant in Chinese art!)

The bone and bamboo tiles are from the Katherine Hartman collection.

The Phoenix in Chinese Art and Mahjong Part 2: With Peony • 1 Comment

Kuan Yin • March 27, 2014

The peony is important in Chinese art and symbolism. It is the king of flowers, and symbolizes "rank, wealth, and honor" according to Patricia Bjaaland Welch in her book Chinese Art A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery. Welch goes on to write that the pairing of the peony with the phoenix, the king of birds, is very auspicious indeed. Because the phoenix is associated with a swift rise in career or position, and the peony with rank and wealth, when they are together they represent "prosperity and righteousness."

Occasionally you may be lucky enough to find a mahjong set with not only a phoenix, rare enough by itself, but a phoenix and peony. Above we have one such tile, a One Bam Phoenix, with the bird depicted mid-flight. She has a peony in her mouth. (You can see the details of the two tail feathers, the red details, indicating she's a female.)

Above, in the collection of R M Chait, seen during Asia Week, is a beautiful porcelain with phoenix and peony; the phoenix has the peony in his mouth, seen above and behind the bird's head. Here too the bird is in flight.

And from John Nicholson Auctioneers, another phoenix with peony; you can see the head of the flower on one side and the stem on the other, once again held in the mouth of the flying phoenix.

And we end the post with another fabulous One Bam Phoenix and Peony.

The two tiles seen today are from the collection of Katherine Hartman.

The Phoenix in Chinese Art and Mahjong Part 1

Kuan Yin • March 26, 2014

The phoenix, which only appears in times of fair and just rulers, is associated with peaceful and happy times. Patricia Bjaaland Welch's book: Chinese Art A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery is the source for the art information in this post. She writes the phoenix is known in China as the king of the birds, but its origins are complex. Today the phoenix is considered to be a combination of several creatures: the head of a pheasant, the body of a duck, the legs of a crane, the tail feathers of a peacock, the mouth of a parrot and the wings of a sparrow. The female phoenix has a tail with two feathers, and the male has one with five feathers. When a phoenix is paired with another mythological creature, a dragon, the phoenix automatically becomes the female partner.

Most of you are familiar with this symbol that appears on the early sets made by the Mah-Jongg Sales Company of America, that was discussed earlier on this blog. It was simply the Chinese Character for the male phoenix.

Nowadays we call it the Green Dragon, and many of today's players are unaware of this different character that served as the Green at the beginning of the Mahjong craze.

In the earliest days of Chinese art, the phoenix was shown as a striding creature with outstretched wings, up until close to 600 AD, perhaps a bit of a version of this One Bam, though of course this one does not have outstretched wings:

The jaunty attitude of this bird is enchanting.

The next Chinese Bakelite One Bam features another phoenix, posing with leg raised in a similar way to what we often see with peacock One Bams.

The two feathers reveals it to be a female. (It is from the personal collection of mahjongmahjong.)

Later on in time, during the Tang Dynasty the phoenix was depicted in flight, and by the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1126) it was shown rising in flight with legs tucked up.

On the above lovely hanging dating from the Song Dynasty in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we see the phoenix on the left; the two feathers indicate a female. Interestingly, the tail does not have the peacock-like look to them we normally see.

A bit later in time we see the above panel dating from the Ming Dynasty in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The phoenix now looks a lot different, and its tail has the more ornate feathers we expect. Look carefully and you will see four phoenixes.

In yesterday's blog we discussed Five Bats which are symbolic of the Five Blessings: old age, wealth, health, love of virtue and a natural death, an image that frequently appears in Chinese art. The rare dish below was auctioned off at Sothebys. Five bats surround a stylized Shou in the center, and although hard to see the "cavetto," the part of the plate surrounding the center flat part, has three phoenixes. Note they only have two tail feathers, and thus are females.

Below is a version of a flying phoenix on a Mahjong tile

It is a female, and she looks it, doesn't she?

Below is the accompanying bird from the same set:

You can see the similarities to the phoenix, but it really is a pheasant, indicated by the feathers that don't resemble those of peacocks.

My book, written with Ann Israel, is coming out! To see about the book:

www.mahjonggtheartofthegame.com

to order the book:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

amazon.com/gp/product/4805313234/ref=s9_newr_gw_d33_g14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0VDFGYSYF35F849MH93Q&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

Five Bats: The Five Blessings

Kuan Yin • March 25, 2014

Five Bats are considered to be very lucky in Chinese art. They symbolize the five blessings: health, wealth, longevity, virtue, and dying a natural death.

The five bats theme occurs over and over in Chinese art, on some beautiful vases and porcelains, on royal robes, screens, and, of course, mahjong sets!

Here are images of some fivesomes.

This work of art was auctioned off during Asia Week in NYC at Sotheby's.

The center of the above dish is a design with three stylized lotus blooms surrounding a central lotus, encircled by five bats and scrolls.

Above is a snuff bottle recently seen at Asia Week. Notice the five bats encircling the neck of the bottle.

The dish below was also auctioned off at Sothebys. It is very rare, with five bats surrounding the stylized Shou in the center. Although hard to see on the "cavetto" (the part of the plate surrounding the center flat part) has three phoenixes.

These five bats also appear on mahjong sets. Following is a closeup of one of the drawer pulls, and a photograph of all the drawers. Are the facts that there are five drawers with five bats a coincidence? I think not! The five bats symbolize five blessings for the owner.

Above is a close-up of one bat pull, and below the five pulls on the box:

Below is a blurry photo of a simpler type of bat pull, also on five drawers.

The top of the above ebonized box has five stylized bats surrounding the top piece, what may be another bat.

And here they surround the central Shou on the front panel of the box.

This is a story of some very lucky and oblivious owners of a bat vase; although it is not about five bats, it is worth a read.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/443251/Old-Chinese-vase-found-on-chest-of-drawers-of-oblivious-owners-sells-for-3m

Mahjong Treasures

Appreciating the Art of Mahjong; A Collector's Guide