"Bat" --- the mascot of traditional Chinese culture
The green jade phoenix bat pattern is as desired
Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing
Fu is a word that we are all too familiar with, and the way of praying for the "fu character" posted by every household during the New Year proves the influence of fu culture on the Chinese people. In terms of form, bats do not have the elegance of cranes or the dexterity of deer, but in the context of traditional Chinese culture, they have formed ornaments that are loved by the general public and even the royal family nobles - bat patterns. The plain-looking bat counterattacks into the rich and handsome in the traditional ornamentation, relying on the "birth" good, and the fu character is in harmony. In addition, the advantage of bats is also in pronunciation, "bat" itself is a "good mouth" - "full of blessings", which means that everywhere is blessed and happiness is boundless.
In addition, bats are closely related to "Shou", and gehong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty "Baopuzi" Yun: "Chitose bats, color like white snow, the set is upside down, and the brain is heavy." This thing is given and dried up, and it is a long life." It is said here that "bats" are long-lived animals, and after drying, grinding them into powder can prolong life, which now seems a little frightening, but at that time people regarded bats as a symbol of longevity.
The "Five Blessings" are the five criteria of the ancient folk concept of happiness, "Shu Hong Fan": "Five Blessings: one is shou, two is rich, three is Kangning, four is good morality, and the fifth is the end of life." Han Huantan's "New Treatise": "The Five Blessings: Longevity, Wealth, Nobility, Happiness, and Many Descendants." That is, the first blessing of the "five blessings" is "longevity." Therefore, bats that represent both "all blessings" and "longevity" have become "regular customers" of the patterns on buildings, decorations, furniture, clothes and other patterns in ancient times, especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
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Bat Pattern plays the change
Filigree enamel five blessings holding shou pattern round box
For thousands of years, the "bat" ornament has been loved by people and occupies an extremely important position in China's auspicious ornamentation. Therefore, ancient buildings, ornaments, doors and windows, furniture, silk, clothes, shoes and hats, porcelain, jade, calligraphy and painting, etc., there are many bat patterns.
Its head is summarized as a triangular shape, the front corner is the mouth, the side angle is the ear, the wings account for two-thirds of the body, a pair of appendages are glued to the main wing, and the wings, torso, and tail are decorated with wavy lines and polylines.
Yellow pastel red bat pattern plate
The overall shape takes the flowing rotation curve as the basic component of the pattern, and uses rich imagination and bold deformation, exaggeration and generalization of artistic expression techniques to turn the originally unbeautiful image into a winged and elegant and elegant image.
"Bat" ornamentation is diverse, bat forms are different, there are figurative bats, there are also abstract bats; some are combined with graphics, some echo with the text; there are single, double, and five or more, the number is different, not the same.
Bat patterns on the walls of the Forbidden City
For example, a flying bat usually means "blessing from heaven"; two bats mean "double blessing"; five bats mean "five blessings linmen"; multiple bats mean "many blessings". There are also red bats that symbolize "Hong FuQi Tian".
"Bat" stripes are common combinations
First, with the cloud pattern
Black paint depicts a gold cloud bat pattern reclining chair
Cloud bat pattern is widely used, both flat depictions, such as paintings, porcelain, painting enamel, weaving embroidery, but also three-dimensional carving, such as wood carving, jade carving, stone carving, lacquer carving, set glass, tooth corner carving, etc. The cloud pattern represents the high ascension and the bat pattern represents the blessing of the long, which together has the meaning of "ten thousand blessings flowing clouds". This pattern is commonly used in Kyozoku court furniture, such as "rosewood cloud bat pattern rack several cases". In this case, the side of the case is carved with a cloud bat pattern, and the two shelves under the face are also carved with cloud bat patterns. Its bat pattern adopts a realistic approach, and the image is realistic and vivid.
Yellow-ground green cloud bat pattern bowl
Second, with the swastika pattern
Yellow ground red bat gold tuan shou character pattern lid bowl
Clear rosewood cloud bat pattern side rack several cases
The same is the "rosewood cloud bat pattern side frame several cases", several walls of open light through the carving of bats, shou peach and bat swastika pattern, is to imply "fu shou boundless", "longevity without boundaries".
Third, with the floral pattern
Blue and white fly bat pattern pen holder
The bat pattern is matched with the floral pattern, and the effect is rich and exaggerated, which is most suitable for expressing it with gold depiction. The bat pattern itself can be embossed, can be carved through, can be depicted gold, relief and through carving are common, but there are not many furniture depicting gold. "Black lacquer depicting golden cloud bat pattern Kang table" can be regarded as a representative example, the table table ice plate along the depiction of gold cloud bat, floral pattern, although the gold paint has been worn over the years, but still does not hide the gorgeous style.
Qingqianlong black lacquer inlaid jade depicting gold Baishou character Kang table
Fourth, with the chime pattern
Coral emerald auspicious celebration has more than bonsai
Coral emerald auspicious celebration has more than one bonsai local
Also known as "Fuqing pattern". The chime is an ancient percussion instrument shaped like a curved ruler, made of jade and stone, and can be hung. "Bat" is harmonized with "Fuqing", and its meaning is "Fuqing Ruyi". Such as "rosewood Fuqing Ruyi pattern chair", the backrest plate is carved in the middle of the bat pattern and ruyi cloud head pattern. The Fu Zhen pattern has a highly condensed formal beauty, not complicated and eye-catching, conveying a balanced beauty. If on the basis of bats and jade chimes, together with xiangyuan and sunflower fans, the Chinese auspicious painting "Fuyuan Shanqing" is formed.
Fifth, with the dragon pattern
Qing embroidery Fu shou pattern square piece
The dragon pattern here refers to the mantis, the hammer, etc. The Ming Dynasty Huanghuali rose chair has seen the pattern of "Six Ant Holding Shou", and the back plate of the chair is carved with six mantises, which should be a rare Huanghuali furniture that uses a large number of carvers in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the collocation of ornaments became more diverse, and dragon patterns such as bat patterns and mantises and hammers first appeared on the same furniture, and the meaning became richer. In some furniture in the Qing Dynasty, there were examples of carved double dragons, bat patterns, and Tuanshou character patterns;
Blue pastel double dragon bat shou tangled branch pattern manta ear wall bottle
Tuanshou character pattern is centered, double dragon dwelling on both sides, bat pattern on both sides, the meaning is also deepened into "double dragon holding shou" and "fu shou into a double" two layers. There are not many bat patterns used on Ming Dynasty furniture, mostly carved mantises, curly grass and other ornaments, but the difference between bat patterns in the early and late Qing Dynasties is more obvious.
Bright yellow satin embroidered cloud dragon pattern jifu robe partial
In the early Qing Dynasty, bat patterns did not change much, the body was moderate, the wings opened slightly, and a few bats had whiskers and were full of aura. The late bats, large in shape, dazed and lifeless, can be regarded as one of the basis for the discontinuation of Qing Dynasty furniture.
As a symbol, the bat pattern infiltrates the "Fu" culture into the bat pattern, becoming a typical allegorical representative of China's "Fu" culture, expressing people's ardent desire and beautiful pursuit of a happy life.