8. Earthenware Cricket Jars with Lids. Seal 

 ot Zhao Ziyu on exterior base Beifing. 18th or 

 19th cent. Left: Jar with slender waist, flat base, 

 and reddish, polished surface. At center of lid 

 is black clay plaque with molded openwork 

 decoration showing horse under tree: diam. 

 5.8 cm: cat. 127800 Middle: Barrel-shaped 

 jar. grayish black with polished surface. The 

 molded black clay plaque in center of lid 

 is ornamented with characters for "fortune. " 

 "promotion. " "longevity, "and "happiness": cat. 

 127782. Right: Jar with 4 horizontal raised ribs, 

 grayish black and polished, l-lere Zhao 's seal is 

 framed not by the usual rectangle but by leaf- 

 shaped outline. Central plaque is raised into 

 shallow dome: cat. 127789. 



9. Earthenware Cricket Jars with Lids. Beijing, 



early 20th century. Left: Jar in elongated gourd 



shape, light brown. Three seals inside read "Linji" 



(the workshop). "Chengu, "and "Qingzao" (the 



maker, Chen Guqing). The lid is black with central 



clay plaque molded with lily pond motif: cat. 



127818. Center: Jar in gourd shape with flattened, 



light brown base. Four seals inside include the 



names of two makers. Mingwei and Chen Guqing, 



and a place or workshop name, Linpu, Black lid 



has openwork clay plaque with lotus pond and 



dragonfly design: diam. 5.7 cm: cat. 127771. 



Right: Jar in gourd shape with pointed, tight brown 



base. Three seals on inside give the workshop 



name, Linji, and the maker's name, Chen Shi, Lid is 



missing: cat, 127795. 



14 



that such bowls are no longer made, so they are greatly 

 prized. When sold (which rarely happens) old Shiwan 

 arenas fetch very high prices. We have never seen a 

 specially made arena for public cricket matches from 

 eastern or northern China. We believe they exist but 

 have no idea what they are like, nor have we seen the 

 famous basin-like arenas that are said to have been 

 made in the Xuande period (A.D. 1426-1435) of the 

 Ming Dynasty. 



Also shown in the figure 4 lithograph is a small, 

 fan-shaped object lying close to the fighting court. 



This is probably a cricket bed, used as a shelter for the 

 cricket inside its jar and for transferring the insect from 

 one container to another. Beds of this kind are among 

 the oldest documented cricket utensils; three that were 

 recovered from a tomb near Suzhou may he as early as 

 the thirteenth century. Field Museum has a number of 

 beds of this kind in its collection (fig. 11). Though 

 none bear seals or other written evidence ot their ori- 

 gin, they are believed to have been made in the Beijing 

 as well as the Shanghai areas. One can still buy such 

 cricket beds in bird-and-insect markets of those cities. 



