4 LAUFER, THE DECORATIVE ART OF THE AMUR TRIBES. 



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I shall here compare with our Siberian devices cannot prove, of course, the direct 

 historical connection between the practices of both arts : they are merely material 

 chosen to demonstrate some characteristic congruous features, which may bear 

 witness, if not to the exact degree of relationship, yet to a general one. 



What is necessary, first of all, to sift out, is the ornamental art of the Man- 

 chu, and those Chinese peoples in the northern part of the Celestial Kingdom 

 bordering on Siberia. The source from which the Amur peoples have drawn 

 may be discovered there. After all, it is clearly too intricate a problem, thus far, 

 to distinguish accurately between what of their art the Amur tribes owe to their 

 masters, and what to themselves. A great many features should be attributed 

 to direct Chinese transmission. On the whole, therefore, the standpoint to be 

 taken, in a consideration of the decorative art of these tribes, must for the 

 present be one that looks upon it as an independent branch of East Asiatic art, 

 which sprang from the Sino-Japanese cultural centre. The exact historical posi 

 tion of this domain of art in the grand framework of this culture has yet to be 

 ascertained. 



The dependence of the art of the Amur tribes on the Chinese arises, in the 

 next place, from the fact that Chinese models are immediately copied by the 

 Gold. The explanation of such reproductions can be drawn only from the realm 

 of Chinese conceptions. Many Chinese designs are simply based on a play upon 

 words ; that is, abstract ideas are symbolized by an object the name of which is 

 homonymous with that of the former, although written with different characters. 

 On Plate i are combined three designs, apparently Goldian copies of Chinese 

 originals. Fig. i represents somewhat more than half of a sleeping-mat cov 

 ered with a silk embroidery. Around the central circle, surrounded by a key 

 pattern, are grouped four bats and four butterflies, alternating with each other. 

 The meander is repeated in semicircles in the four corners. The bat is called in 

 Chinese fu ; there is another word fu with the meaning &quot; good luck.&quot; The but 

 terfly is designated tiek ; this same complex of sounds means also &quot;aged.&quot; The 

 abstract idea of this pattern is therefore that it may convey to the possessor old 

 age and good luck. Fig. 2 shows the design on the top of a Golclian tea- 

 table. The centre is occupied by the dragon in the exact style of that seen so 

 frequently on Chinese porcelain boxes and other objects. On either side it is 

 beset by two bats. To the right and left of these is a vine bearing three blos 

 soms. Fig. 3 represents a square kerchief of bluish-green silk lined with red 

 cloth and edged with a black border. In the middle we see a conventionalized 

 form of the Chinese character shou (&quot;long life&quot;). Around it are four butterflies 

 hovering over plum-blossoms. They are embroidered in the most variegated 

 colors. Plum-blossom is called met, and is looked upon as the symbol of beauty, 

 as met also signifies &quot; beautiful.&quot; This pattern presents, accordingly, an allusion 

 to long life, old age, and beauty. 1 



Among other Chinese forms which we meet with in East Siberian art we 



1 See W. Grube, Zur Pekinger Volkskunde (Veroffentl. aus clem Mus. f. Volkerkunde, Berlin, Vol. VII, p. 138). 



