Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 11. (Budapest, 1991)

FERENCZY Mária: A modernizáció megjelenése a századeleji kínai ábrázolásokon

ciple (yang and yin — in other words, domestic happiness, and the survival of the family in healthy offspring) in the world; lions and beasts' masks ward off evil influences; the tiny clouds, the flowers, the lampions, the musical stones, the coins presage wealth, prosperity and success for the family (for these symbols cf. CHAVANNES: 21-24., p.101.; WILLIAMS: pp.137., 324., 253., 376., 73.; EBERHARD: pp.63., 182., 157., 161-162.). Parallel cases: as yet unknown; a similar print has been described (without a picture) in: ALEKSEIEV 1966: p. 157. In the material published by DUBOIS (pp.144., 150156., nos. 76-83.) the pictures containing a similar inscription also give the image of the main deity. 3. THE HERD-BOY AND THE SPINNING DAMSEL AT THE HEAVENLY RIVER Inventory no.: 89.44.1 Size: 61 x 109 an Title: Union at the Heavenly River (T'ien ho p'ei) Signature: none. Technique: block-printed with black,

17 green, yellow, orange colour; hand-coloured with pink, heliotrope, red, lilac, purple, light blue, deep blue, greyish blue, pale brown and white colours and Chinese ink (grey and black). Condition: The thin, creamy-white paper is crumpled, the rims frayed, at the bottom there is a tear extending up to the middle. Subject: In the middle of the picture the Spinning Damsel, with a sad face, is hurrying toward the Heavenly Palace on red fringes of cloud, with sleeves and coloured sashes trailing behind her. She looks back at the Herd-boy, who is hurrying on the back of a grey cloud after his wife carrying their two children in two baskets with a carrying-pole. Above, in the middle stands the irate goddess as an elderly lady in furlined attire with two maid-servants holding a big yellow royal fan behind her. Water is pouring from her sleeve, the foreground being covered by the jet of water swelling into a fierce green flood and separating the lovers. At their left, in the vicinity of the gate of the Heavenly Palace, another dame looks on astonished, with two maids. Above on the right a long-bearded, aged immortal with a knot of hair and holding a whisk stands on a cloud. The entrance to the Heavenly Palace is an arched gateway with a high, double, ornate roof. Behind it parts of two pavilions are visible; in the foreground there is a tripartite triumphal arch (pai lou). On the left is a column painted in pink, with a beast crouching on its hind legs on the top. Part of a brickset fence is also visible, with firtrees both inside and outside. The structure emerges from dark clouds painted with large, broad brush-strokes. Explanation: The myth of the Herd-boy and the Spinning Damsel — which is now a folk-tale

18 — originally served to explain the origins of two constellations and of the Milky Way: the Spinning Damsel, a granddaughter of the Goddess of Heaven, married the Herd-boy without the consent of her family. They had a happy life and had two sons, but the Goddess summoned her granddaughter back to Heaven, and when the unhappy Herd-boy followed her, carrying their children along, the irate goddess poured out the Heavenly River from her sleeve to separate them (cf. BREDON—MITROPHANOW: p. 370—374.). In this grandiose composition the key episode of the tale is reproduced. The scene represented here obviously goes back to a number of antecedents. It is in its inherent structure that it is divided by the Heavenly River into two parts, a male and a female, in the same way as the living quarters are