Terms and conditions of use
Ivory desk screen
(案上象牙屏)
(18th century)
- Medium
- ivory
- Measurements
- (a-b) 28.0 × 29.0 × 7.8 cm (overall)
- Place/s of Execution
- China
- Inscription
- incised on reverse of centre panel l.l.: 雲峯子
incised on reverse of left side panel u.l.: 道韞詩成柳 絮飛 - Accession Number
- 2842A.a-b-D3
- Department
- Asian Art
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1927
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Gordon Darling Foundation - Gallery location
- Not on display
- Physical description
- This ivory screen is decorated with a scene with auspicious symbols on the front and on the back a poem written in the cursive script of Chinese calligraphy. The scene is carved on the front of the ivory screen and the calligraphy incised on the back. The God of Longevity with a tall skull and holding a sceptre is standing at the centre. He is flanked to his left by an official with a deer, symbol of long life and high social status. To his right is an older gentleman holding a child, which suggests fertility. The child is holding a branch of peaches, symbols of immortality. They are flanked by pine trees which remain green in winter and are therefore symbols of longevity and tall mountains at the back, which might probably represent the isles of immortals. At the foot of the pine trees are lingzhi 靈芝 fungus or mushrooms, symbols of longevity. In the foreground to the three figures’ left are two monkeys holding peaches symbols of long life. According to legend, Monkey King stole the peach of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West, Xiwangmu 西王母 who grew peaches in the Kunlun 崑崙 Mountain in the west and the peaches bear fruits every 3000 years. In the foreground to the three figures’ right is a pair of deer, male with horns and female which symbolize long life and also high social status. The pronunciation of the word for deer lu 鹿 is the same in pronunciation as the word for high social status lu 祿 and is therefore a pun with auspicious meanings.
