The Chinese Vase
The Chinese Vase is a representative of trends in porcelain decoration during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, the second ruler of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The two scenes in this vase represent an interesting visual riff on the narrative technique (prof Besio). Both the top and the bottom scenes can be divided into 3 sections, with top and bottom paralleling each other: trees growing in a garden; human figures in a garden; and, contiguous and open to the garden, an interior of a scholar’s study. In both the top and bottom sections a stone path leads to two gnarled trees intertwined against a background of a rock formation. In all three parallel sections, the bottom setting is similar to, but more elaborate than, the one above. Perhaps
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The figure is raining down coins from a money string onto a servant, who is gathering up the windfall. Some may think that the figure is an ancestor, as ancestor worship and the belief that they still had power to intervene in the affairs of the living is a venerating custom in Chinese culture. However, while researching the significance of the figure, I came across the story of Liu-Hai, the God of Wealth and Prosperity, who somehow became associated to a three-legged toad in the 10th century China. “As well as doing conjuring tricks with coins, he is also the protector of needle makers.” (godchecker) The traditional Chinese coins have a hole in the center, - visible in the Chinese Vase, as well -, and the string can be visible from the distance. To anyone familiar with Chinese Mythology, the name of the God Liu-Hai would conjure up images of him and the famous three-legged toad whose mere presence is said to attract money. Alan Priest speaks of Chinese porcelain as “superb examples of ceramic art”, and mentions the immortal Liu-Hai as a figure that often covered the paintings of these ceramics. Characterized by holding the peach of longevity in one hand and his three-legged toad clinging to one shoulder with and a string of coins hanging down his back. (Alan Priest), the immortal is sometimes portrayed without the toad, with long
The figure is raining down coins from a money string onto a servant, who is gathering up the windfall. Some may think that the figure is an ancestor, as ancestor worship and the belief that they still had power to intervene in the affairs of the living is a venerating custom in Chinese culture. However, while researching the significance of the figure, I came across the story of Liu-Hai, the God of Wealth and Prosperity, who somehow became associated to a three-legged toad in the 10th century China. “As well as doing conjuring tricks with coins, he is also the protector of needle makers.” (godchecker) The traditional Chinese coins have a hole in the center, - visible in the Chinese Vase, as well -, and the string can be visible from the distance. To anyone familiar with Chinese Mythology, the name of the God Liu-Hai would conjure up images of him and the famous three-legged toad whose mere presence is said to attract money. Alan Priest speaks of Chinese porcelain as “superb examples of ceramic art”, and mentions the immortal Liu-Hai as a figure that often covered the paintings of these ceramics. Characterized by holding the peach of longevity in one hand and his three-legged toad clinging to one shoulder with and a string of coins hanging down his back. (Alan Priest), the immortal is sometimes portrayed without the toad, with long