The Seven Gems (ch’i pao) are: (1) Chin lun, the golden wheel. (2) Yü nü, the jade-like girl. (3) Ma, the horse. (4) Hsiang, the elephant. (5) Chu ts’ang shên, divine guardian of the treasury. (6) Chu ping ch’ên, general in command of the army. (7) Ju i chu the jewels which fulfil every wish; a bundle of jewelled wands bound round with a cord.

The Pa an hsien, Attributes of the Eight Immortals, as detailed above (p. 287), are: (1) Shan, the fan of Chung-li Ch’üan. (2) Chien, the sword of Lü Tung-pin. (3) Hu lu, the gourd of Li T’ieh-kuai. (4) Pan, the castanets of Ts’ao Kuo-chiu. (5) Hua lan, the basket of flowers of Lan Ts’ai-ho. (6) Yu ku, the bamboo tube and rods of Chang Kuo Lao. (7) Ti, the flute of Han Hsiang Tzŭ. (8) Lien hua, the lotus flower of Ho Hsien Ku.

The Po ku, or Hundred Antiques, is, as its name implies, a comprehensive group including all manner of symbols and symbolical ornaments, which were frequently grouped together in panel decoration. Bushell[519] describes two typical panels on specimens in the Walters collection. One contained the apparatus of the scholar and painter, viz. books on tables, brushes in vases, water pots and scroll pictures, all enveloped with waving fillets mingled with tasselled wands and double diamonds, which are symbols of literary success. The other contained a tall vase with peonies; a low vase with peacock feather, an emblem of high rank; a lion-shaped censer on a four-legged stand, the incense smoke from which rises in form of a pair of storks; a set of incense-burning implements, a bundle of scroll pictures, a ju-i sceptre, a musical stone, a sword, and a paper weight.

A favourite set of Po-ku emblems is the Pa pao (Fig. 3) or Eight Precious Objects: (1) Chu, the pearl, which grants every wish. (2) Ch’ien, the “cash,” a copper coin used to symbolise wealth. (3) Lozenge, or picture (hua). (4) Fang shêng, the open lozenge, symbol of victory.[520] (5) Ch’ing, the musical stone. (6) Shu, a pair of books. (7) Chüeh, a pair of horn-like objects. (8) Ai yeh, the leaf of the artemisia, fragrant plant of good omen and a preventative of disease.

A branch of coral, a silver ingot, a pencil brush and cake of ink are common emblems; and the swastika occurs both by itself (vol. i., p. 227) or interwoven with the character shou (vol. i., p. 227), or even as a fret or diaper pattern. The swastika is a world-wide symbol; in China it is called wan, and used as a synonym for wan (ten thousand), and as such it is regarded as a symbol of wan shou (endless longevity). A lyre wrapped in an embroidered case, a chess-or gô-board with round boxes for the white and black pieces, a pair of books, and a pair of scroll pictures symbolise the “four elegant accomplishments,” ch’in, ch’i, shu, hua (music, chess, writing and painting).

The figurative aspect of Chinese decoration has been repeatedly noticed, and occasional examples of direct play upon words or rebus devices have been given incidentally. The Chinese language is peculiarly suited for punning allusions, one sound having to do duty for many characters; but it is obvious that a fair knowledge of the characters is required for reading these rebus designs. There is, however, a certain number of stock allusions with which the collector can easily make himself familiar. The commonest of these is perhaps the bat (fu) which symbolises happiness (also pronounced fu in Chinese). The Five Blessings (wu fu), which consist of longevity, riches, peacefulness and serenity, love of virtue and an end crowning the life, are suggested by five bats; and a further rebus is formed of red bats among cloud scrolls, reading hung fu ch’i t’ien, “great happiness equally heaven” (t’ien); hung being the sound of the character for “great, vast,” as well as for red, and red being, so to speak, the colour of happiness in Chinese eyes.

Other common rebus designs are suggested by such words as lu (deer), lu (preferment); yü (fish), yü (abundance); ch’ing (sounding stone), ch’ing (good luck); ch’ang (the intestinal knot), ch’ang (long); and the composition of the rebus phrase often includes such ideas as lien (lotus), lien (connect, combine); tieh (butterfly), tieh (to double). But almost every sound in the Chinese spoken language represents a considerable number of characters, and it would be possible with a little ingenuity to extract several rebus sentences out of any complicated decoration. It is well to remember, however, that most of the ordinary allusions have reference to some good wish or felicitous phrase bearing on the five blessings, on the three abundances or on literary success.

To quote a few further instances: the design of nine (chiu) lions (shih) sporting with balls (chü) of brocade has been read[521] chiu shih t’ung chü, “a family of nine sons living together.” An elephant (hsiang) carrying a vase (p’ing) on its back (pei) is read[522] hsiang pei tai p’ing, “Peace (p’ing) rules in the north (pei).” A tub full of green wheat is read[523] i t’ung ta ch’ing, “the whole empire (owns) the great Ch’ing dynasty.” Three crabs holding reeds is read[524] san p’ang hsieh ch’uan lu, “three generations gaining the first class at the metropolitan examinations.” Two pigeons perched on a willow tree is read[525] êrh pa (k’o) t’eng t’ê, “at eighteen to be successful in examinations.”

A group of three objects consisting of a pencil brush (pi), a cake of ink (ting) and a ju-i sceptre crossed one over the other (Fig. 4), occurs both in the field of the decoration and as a mark under the base. It is a pure rebus, reading pi ting ju i, may things be fixed (ting) as you wish (ju i, lit. according to your idea). Another obvious rebus which occurs as a mark (Fig. 5) consists of two peaches and a bat (double longevity and happiness), and floral designs are very commonly arranged so as to suggest rebus phrases.

But the Chinese decorator did not always express himself in riddles. Inscriptions are frequent on all forms of decorative work, as is only natural in a country where calligraphy ranks among the highest branches of art. To the foreign eye Chinese writing will not perhaps appear so ornamental as the beautiful Neshky characters which were freely used for decorative purposes on Persian wares; but for all that, its decorative qualities are undeniable, and to the Chinese who worship the written character it is a most attractive kind of ornament. Sometimes the surface of a vessel is almost entirely occupied by a long inscription treating of the ware or of the decoration which occupies the remaining part; but more often the writing is limited to an epigram or a few lines of verse. The characters as a rule are ranged in columns and read from top to bottom, the columns being taken from left to right; and rhyming verse is written in lines of three, five or seven characters each. The inscriptions are often attested by the name or the seal of the author. The Emperor Ch’ien Lung, a prolific writer of verses, indited many short poems on the motives of porcelain decoration, and these have been copied on subsequent pieces.

As for the style of writing, the ordinary script is the k’ai shu, which dates from the Chin dynasty (265–419 A.D.), but there are besides many inscriptions in which the archaic seal characters chuan tzŭ are employed, or at least hybrid modern forms of them; and there is the cursive script, known as ts’ao shu or grass characters, which is said to have been invented in the first century B.C. The seal and the grass characters are often extremely difficult to translate, and require a special study, which even highly educated Chinese do not profess to have mastered.

Single characters and phrases of auspicious meaning in both seal form and in the ordinary script occur in the decoration and also in the place of the mark. Many instances have already been noted in the chapters dealing with Ming porcelains, such as fu kuei k’ang ning (riches, honours, peace and serenity), ch’ang ming fu kuei (long life, riches and honours), etc., see vol. i., p. 225. The most frequent of these characters is shou (longevity), which is written in a great variety of fanciful forms, mostly of the seal type. The “hundred forms of shou” sometimes constitute the sole decoration of a vase; and as already observed[526] the swastika (wan) is sometimes combined with the circular form of the seal character shou to make the wan shou symbol of ten thousand longevities. Fu (happiness) and lu (preferment) also occur, though less frequently.

Buddhistic inscriptions are usually in Sanskrit characters, but we find occasional phrases such as Tien chu en po (propitious waves from India) and Fo ming ch’ang jih (the ever bright Buddha) in ordinary script or seal, one character in each of four medallions; and the sacred name of O mi t’o fo , Amida Buddha, similarly applied, would serve as a charm against evil.

In addition to the central designs, there is a number of secondary ornaments which round off the decoration of a piece of porcelain. Chief of these are the border patterns, of which a few favourites may be exemplified. At the head of the list comes the Greek key-fret or meander (see Plate 12, Fig. 1), which, like the swastika, is of world-wide use. On the ancient bronze this pattern was freely used both in borders and as a diaper background, and it is described by Chinese archæologists as the “cloud and thunder pattern.” It is sometimes varied by the inclusion of the swastika, in which case it is known as the swastika fret. Another bronze pattern freely borrowed by the porcelain decoration is the border of stiff plantain leaves which appears appropriately on the neck or stem of an upright vase (see Plate 89, Fig. 1).

The border of small “S” shaped scrolls is apparently derived from silkworm cocoons; but the curled scrolls and another scroll pattern with more elaborate curves are intended to suggest clouds. A further development of the cloud pattern is scarcely distinguishable from the ju-i head border (see Plate 77, Fig. 2). Indeed the terms, “connected cloud” pattern, ju-i cloud pattern, and ju-i head pattern, are used almost interchangeably by Chinese archæologists.

Conventional waves are represented by a kind of shaded scale pattern or a diaper of spiral coils, and the more naturalistic “crested wave” border, punctuated by conical rocks, has already been mentioned. There are besides narrow borders of zig-zag pattern with diagonal hatching, and the ordinary diaper designs, in addition to the familiar gadroons and arcaded borders.

The wider borders are usually borrowed from brocade patterns with geometrical or floral ornament, broken by three or four oblong panels containing symbols or sprays of flowers; and when a similar scheme is followed in some of the narrow edgings, the flowers are unhesitatingly cut in half, as though the pattern were just a thin strip taken from a piece of brocade.

A few special borders have been described on the pages dealing with armorial porcelain,[527] among which were the well-known “rat and vine” or “vine and squirrel” pattern (see Plate 119, Fig. 3), reputed to have first appeared on a picture by the Sung artist, Ming Yüan-chang.[528] A rare border formed of red bats side by side occurs on a few plates of fine porcelain which are usually assigned to the K’ang Hsi period, but are probably much later.

On the whole, the Chinese border patterns are comparatively few in number, being in fact a small selection of well-tried designs admirably suited to fill the spaces required and to occupy the positions assigned to them on the different porcelain forms.

As to the sources from which these and the other designs described in this chapter were borrowed by the porcelain decorator, we can only speak in general terms. Ancient bronze vessels, metal mirrors, carved jades, stamped cakes of ink, embroideries, brocades, handkerchiefs, and illustrated books no doubt provided the greater part of them. The purely pictorial subjects would be based on the paintings in silk and paper which the Chinese arrange in four chief categories: (1) figures (jên wu),(2) landscape (shan shui),(3) nature subjects (hua niao, lit. flowers and birds), and (4) miscellaneous designs (tsa hua). Selections of desirable designs from various sources were no doubt arranged in pattern books, and issued to the porcelain painters.