Our Happy Family Ball. Jade. 2014. Artist unknown. |
This summer in Beijing, we were herded into a small jade factory with an exit through a very large gift shop. We watched a carver sculpt a "Happy Family Ball" -- four hollow, pierced spheres; each contained within the next -- from a single block of jade. Each layer, we were told, represents a generation of a family; grandparents on the outside, then parents, children, and, at the centre, grandchildren.
Swirling around the outer sphere is a carving of a dragon and a phoenix, each grasping the other in its mouth, ouroboros-style. Completing the circle (or in this case the sphere). Completing the family.
The dragon represents the emperor in Chinese lore. It is a symbol of the male principle. The phoenix represents the empress or the female.
In many ways, the Happy Family Ball is a three-dimensional representation of the yin-yang principle. Of its wholeness, the one figure completing the other. Of its fecundity. Of its passion, and its violence.
Of a tussle and an embrace.
Of a tussle and an embrace.
No comments:
Post a Comment