Minneapolis Institute of Art

Stone weight (or child's tether?)

China

Date

19th century

Medium

Stone

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This unusual stone sculpture features a lion atop a square base with foliate corners. The base is carved in low relief on top with four bats surrounding a stylized Chinese character shou or longevity. In ancient China, craftsmen often used word-puns and loaded homonyms in creating their works of art. The rebus in this context is the combination of a spoken word and a visual image, whose name is pronounced in the same fashion as an auspicious term. The images in this sculpture, the lion shi and the bat fu , are homophones for power and good fortune. Altogether, the design of this sculpture implies an auspicious message: a wish for official advancement, good fortune and longevity. Asia

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