May mother live up to a ripe old age
萱耋
© Tutuhaoyi.com owns the copyright of the description content for the images attached. Quoting all or part of the description content on this page is permitted ONLY IF ‘Tutuhaoyi.com’ is clearly acknowledged anywhere your quote is produced unless stated otherwise. (本页描述内容版权归Tutuhaoyi.com所有，转发或引用需注明 “Tutuhaoyi.com”, 侵权必究， 已注开源信息的条目除外。)
Pun design:
Punning details:
– ‘Xuan 萱’ from ‘xuan cao 萱草’ refers to the daylily, which is a symbol for motherhood in Chinese culture;
– ‘Dié 蝶’ in Chinese meaning ‘the butterfly’ is a pun on ‘dié 耋’, a Chinese character for ‘octogenarian’.
Thus lily flowers and butterflies form a pun rebus picture known as ‘Xuān Dié Tú 萱耋图’, expressing the good wish of ‘May mother live up to a ripe old age’. It is obviously an apt theme for birthday present to mothers with a heartfelt wish.
Related blogs written by Dr Yibin Ni:
Cultural Differences in the Symbolic Meaning of Lily 萱草百合中西辨
Fig 1-2: porcelain bottle vase with underglaze cobalt blue decoration, Yongle period (1403–24), Ming dynasty, courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Fig 3-4: famille verte porcelain vase, Kangxi period (1662–1722), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Fig 5: famille verte porcelain brush pot, Kangxi period (1662–1722), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the previous Jie Rui Tang Collection
Fig 6: copper snuff-bottle decorated with polychrome enamels, Yongzheng period (1723–35), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Fig 7: handscroll, ink and colour on paper, Wen Chu 文俶 (1595–1634), 1627, courtesy of Shanghai Museum