Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum

continuity.
The pattern of specimen
(b) has been designed with great
sensitivity. Resembling a papercut
design, it depicts paradise
flycatchers in various attitudes—
darting about or taking respite—
among clusters of pine-needles
and wisps of dissipating clouds, some of
which merge to become //ngz/?/-shaped
formations. The lingzhi (literally meaning
divine fungus, more popularly known as
fungus of immortality), pine, and paradise
flycatcher are all conventional symbols
of longevity. Clouds (yun) portend
good fortune (yun).
Specimen (c) is decorated with
a lively pattern of butterflies among
entwining stems of flourishing hibiscus.
The hibiscus (furong) represents wealth
and eminence (fugui ronghua). The butterfly
has a number of felicitous connotations, including long life,
happy marriage (when depicted in pairs), joy (when depicted in multitude),
and the idea of multiplication. Here, the flower and the insect
play another role. The flower stands for the female; the butterfly represents
the male. The euphemistically depicted scene of a butterfly
feeding on a flower is actually implicit with courtship between the
two sexes or devotion between husband and wife.
THESE TWO STRIKING PATTERNS are modern creations using
reworked traditional motifs. Specimen (a) has an overall pattern composed
of repeat images of a phoenix with outspread wings and a curly
tendril in its beak.20 The images are connected side by side to form
a row. Each row is positioned diagonally
across the width in a NE-SW orientation.
Each row, too, is linked with another row
in two ways. When two rows of birds are
represented flying towards one another,
they are joined together by the continuous
curly tendril. When two rows of
birds are depicted flying away from one
another, they are connected by joining
the birds' outstretched wing- and tailfeathers.
Through this clever artistic device,
the large numbers of repetitive diagonals and curves that define
various compositional details create a vivid sense of movement and
grandeur in the pattern.
While the pattern in specimen (a) emphasizes organization, that
shown in specimen (b) seems to delight in profusion and chaos. Its
theme may depict the exuberant
life in a lotus pond.21 Amid robust
stems of lotus blossoms, however,
one can barely distinguish fish
tails connected to some of the
writhing snake-like forms that constitute
the entangled masses. This
modern creation shows strong
influence by fanciful designs evident
in the textiles produced by
31. TWO LENGTHS OF FABRIC WITH DESIGNS OF (A) PHOENIXES IN FLIGHT
AND (B) LOTUSES AND FISH, Cotton, Early 1980s, Hunan province, On loan from
Mrs. Patty Proctor, L2004.8.3, 4, W. (a) 82.1 cm, (b) 88.4 cm
31a
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