CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 381 



in no Avise conntpnanced by tlie doctrines of Lao-tze liiniself. His 

 profetJfied disciples, Lieh T7,e and Chuang Tze in the fourth century, 

 and Huai Nan Tze in the second century P>. C, jirogressively devel- 

 oped the mystic element thus introduced, and a notable impetus 

 accrued to it from the superstitious belief with which the preten- 

 sions of the alchemists were received by the Emperor Wu Ti, from 

 whose period onward the reverence paid to the founder of the sect 

 began to assume a divine character." In A. D. 666 he was for the 

 first time ranked among the gotls, being canonized by the Emperor 

 as "The Great Supreme, the Emperor of the Dark First Cause," 

 and his title was again enlarged in 1013. The achievement of cor- 

 poreal immortality having been the chief aim of the sect named 

 after him, the founder, Lao-tze, naturally came to be considered 

 the Ciod of Longevity, and as such he figures in all the paintings 

 symbolical of a prayer for "dignity, happiness, and long life," 

 being usually depicted as an aged man leaning upon a staff, his head 

 being of abnormally lofty proportions. 

 The pa-chi-hmmg or "eight lucky emblems" are of Buddhistic origin 

 and derived from India. Formed in clay or of wood, they are 

 offered on Buddhistic altars, and largely enter into the architectural 

 decoration of the temples. They are found with variations both of 

 shape and of detail. In their ordinary form they are: 



(1) A bell (cJnuig), or more usually a wheel {h(n), chalra, the wheel of 

 the law, with fillets. 



(2) A univalve shell (lo), the chank shell of the Buddhists, with fillets. 



(3) A state umbrella {mn), with fillets. 



(4) A canopy (hii), with fillets. 



(5) A lotus-flower {lieti-hua), without fillets; sometimes represented as 

 a Pseonia moutan. 



(6) A vase with cover {ktuin), with fillets. 



(7) Two fishes (erJi yi'i), united by fillets. Said by some to be figurative 

 of domestic happiness. 



(8) An angular knot with fillets, termed cli'diig, the intestines, an 

 emblem of longevity. 



Another style of decoration, also consisting of eight emlilems, is that 

 known as the jM-paa, or "eight precious things;" they vary consid- 

 erably in form, and the explanations of their meaning are unreliable 

 and conflicting. The more usual forms, all of which bear fillets, are: 

 (1) an oblate spherical object {cMn), representing a pearl; (2) a 

 hollow disk inclosing an open square, possibly a copper rush em- 

 blematical of riches; (3) an open lozenge, placed horizontally; (4) 

 a lozenge placed horizontally, with a section of a second lozenge in 

 the upper angle; (5) an object resembling in shape a mason's square 

 — the sonorous stone ching, eml)lematic by symphony of "good- 

 ness," " happiness;" (6) two oblong objects placed side by side, pos- 

 sibly books; (7) two rhinoceros horns shaped into quadrangular 

 form; (8) a leaf of the Artemisia, an emblem of good augury. Other 

 forms found in these emblems are a branch of coral, a silver ingot, 

 a cake of ink; and the shell, lotus-flower, and fishes belonging prop- 

 erly to the "eight lucky emblems." 

 56, 57. PlaieK (a j)air)of thin pure white K 'anghsi porcelain, having a flying Feng Inumg 

 and an imperial five-clawed dragon (see No. 4) amid clouds contained by a floral 

 scroll pattern within bands, all engraved in the paste. Round the rim is a 

 border of bats .«et close to one another in vermilion red; and in center within 

 a nicdullion. are the characters Itung-fn-rli'i-t'ini "great happini'ss fills the 



