Standing Screen Carved with Auspicious Symbols

Visual puns that arise from similar-sounding words in Chinese are the basis of the symbolism on this screen. At the center is a pair of fish (shuāngyú 雙魚) underneath a stone chime (qìng 磬), suggesting the phrase “May there be an abundance of auspicious celebration” (jíqìng yǒuyú 吉慶有餘). The pair of fish also appears in Buddhist symbolism, where they represent freedom of movement and the capacity to thrive in an ocean of suffering. Surrounding those motifs are five stylized bats. The word bat (fú 蝠) is pronounced identically to the word for blessing (fú 福), so five bats symbolize the Five Blessings: old age, wealth, health, love of virtue, and a peaceful death. Surrounding all is a border pattern of angular, intertwining ornament, punctuated by stylized dragon’s-head elements, in an archaistic style that was extremely popular in the mid to late 18th century.