During the Ming and Qing dynasties, auspicious culture prevailed. People express their intentions through animals, plants, landscapes, figures, myths, legends and combination patterns, through harmonics, grafting, metaphors, symbols and other artistic techniques, and contain traditional Chinese philosophical ideas and ideals of life, showing the aspirations, pursuits and spiritual sustenance of the ancient Chinese for beautiful things. Because "monkey" is homophonous with "Hou". Hou also symbolizes GuanLu, so the monkey motif is also widely used in auspicious culture. Hou was the second rank of the ancient Chinese noble title, namely Gong, Hou, Uncle, Zi, and Male, with a total of five grades. Therefore, monkeys are endowed with rich cultural connotations in jewelry such as gold and silver and jade. These monkey figures are vivid and full of life, and the combination of patterns uses homophonic and metaphorical techniques, implying that the name of the work is just around the corner
Immediately seal a monkey riding on a horse. This style is likely related to the acrobatics that became popular in the Han Dynasty. According to the Jin Dynasty Fu Xuan's "Ape Endowment", during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Chinese were already able to tame monkeys to perform performances such as dressing and galloping on sheep's backs. Since monkeys can perform acrobatics on sheep's backs, it is also very likely that they will be performed on horseback. At the same time, "immediately sealing the marquis" is in line with the highest ideal of the Chinese to pray for the marquis to worship the face, so it has become a good theme in the creation of utensils.
Seal the copper ornaments immediately Seal the paper cuts immediately
Ming Dynasty topaz carving immediately sealed Hou ornament Qing Dynasty ivory immediately sealed Hou
Tian Qingbai jade carving immediately sealed the marquis of the generations of a small monkey riding on the back of a big monkey, sometimes with bees. Sometimes, the "Fenghou" motif also makes a monkey sitting on a banana leaf. Banana leaves are also fans, because of the wind, so called "Fenghou". "Fenghou" can also be used as a combination of bees and monkeys.
Qing Dynasty ivory carvings have been enfeoffed for generations
Ancestors of Fenghou (paper-cut) Shaanxi Wei Yiping Fenghou worship a tree, monkey climbed to the tree, next to a bee, under the tree is a kneeling elephant.
Fenghou Baixiang Jade Carving Fenghou Baixiang Topaz Carving
Fenghou Baixiang carved a tree in Hou Delu, the monkey was poking the honeycomb, and a deer stood under the tree. Deer is homophonous with Lu. Lu, sound lù, the righteousness of blessing and good fortune. To be a verb is to give the meaning of the giving of the lu.
Sealed Hou Delu gold ornaments
Fenghou Delu porcelain pattern Fenghou hangs a tree, a seal hangs on the branches, monkeys pick prints on the tree, and bees fly. A seal is a stationery used to indicate identification or signature on a document, where it represents an official position. The materials are jade, metal, wood, stone, etc., which is one of the representatives of the traditional culture of the Han people.
Finely carved Mocui Fenghou Hanging Seal Wood carving Marquis Hanging Seal Kiju Presents Shou Two monkeys hold peaches in their hands as a gift.
Macaque monkey sacrifices his descendants Mandai A monkey climbs on a large gourd. Gourd in traditional Chinese culture is a symbol of the prosperity of descendants, "Shi Daya" has a sentence of "Mian Mian Gua Wan", the original meaning is to refer to a variety of melons and fruits, and later do not know why it mainly refers to gourds, may be related to the gourd multi-vine and hanging fruit. And because the monkey has the surname of Sun in "Journey to the West", it also symbolizes "Sun", which complements the gourd and is the reason for "descendants and generations". There is a jade pendant from the Qianlong period, which is a gourd-shaped plaque ornament, and the body is added with a bas-relief vine branch gourd, on the one hand, the seal book "Descendants and Grandchildren", and the other side is "Five Dynasties qichang". In addition, a monkey climbs on a lotus canopy, that is, "descendants of all generations".
The green and white jade carvings of the descendants of the ten thousand generations of young and old people are squat or standing, or hand in hand or teasing, bustling and happy, very rich in human warmth.
The unusual image of the Bronze Sculpture of the Qing Dynasty is three cute little monkeys, with their hands covering their eyes, ears and mouths, representing "not seeing, not listening, not saying", vividly showing the cautious and kind, indisputable character of the world. From the Analects: "Do not look at incivility, do not speak indecently, do not listen to indecency." ”
Three non-monkey motifs
Three non-monkey porcelain ornaments
According to Fan Mingsan, a folklore expert at the Shanghai Museum, the monkey in the twelve-crested pattern is a monkey without a nose, because it is easy to enter the rain when it rains. There is indeed a noseless monkey in China, Vietnam and Myanmar. The nose of the monkey with the collapsed nose is upturned and sneezes when it rains because the raindrops will fall into it. Therefore, this monkey will bury its head between its legs to avoid the rain when it rains. However, the ancient Chinese painted the image of this monkey as its long tail from behind to the top of the head, covering the nostrils, in order to reflect the wisdom of this monkey. This is different from the way the West actually depicts the monkey's tail resting under the body, or circling from the bottom to the front of the body (for details, please refer to the "Native Culture and design of the Year of the Monkey: Are you a teaser sent by the monkey?"). 》）。 To put it simply, Eastern culture pays attention to freehand, mostly attaching culture to the shape of utensils, showing many ideological connotations of morality and etiquette; Western culture pays attention to realism, through in-depth and objective observation, it is exquisitely and meticulously expressed, and finally reflects its luxurious, noble and distinctive taste. Some of the sculptures of monkey images use homophonic and metaphorical techniques to imply auspiciousness and fame. Its shape is full of life, derived from life and higher than the artistic creation method of life.
Zong Yi in the Ming Dynasty's "Three Talents Picture Society"
Zong Yi on a dragon robe in the Qing Dynasty
Endangered collapsed-nosed monkey
Chopard limited edition Golden Monkey Picker
Vacheron Constantin China 12 Zodiac Legend Series Year of the Monkey