Bat
蝙蝠 · bianfu
The bat is auspicious through a pun: fu, “bat”, is a homophone of fu, “blessing”. It is commonly combined with the shou longevity character, clouds and scrolling florals.
Historical development
Bats are used very widely in Qing textiles, from court dress to everyday domestic goods. The form is highly stylised, the wings usually rendered as symmetrical scrolls.
Worked in nasha on a gauze ground the outline is held to the horizontal and vertical of the mesh, with diagonals taken at forty-five degrees, giving the creature an almost geometric character.
Cultural meaning
In combination with other elements the bat forms rebus compositions such as “five blessings surrounding longevity”.
Plates
The same motif as it appears on different objects, gathered for comparison. Dates and provenance for each example are to be established and added.
Bats are scattered between the clouds and alternate with longevity roundels, so that blessing and long life run together across the whole garment.
The roundel centres on the longevity character, with bats to either side and attributes of the eight immortals in the outer ring.
