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Fig. i The association of butterflies with love, romance and tragedy is also reflected Kraak-style bowl in literature, in a famous story set in the 12th century. It is a sort of Chinese decorated with Romeo and Juliet: the story of the ‘Butterfly Lovers’, the scholar Liang Shanbo butterflies and insects, Jingdezhen porcelain and his love Zhu Yingtai, who make a vow of ‘till death do us part’. However, with underglaze blue, Zhu’s parents have already arranged a marriage for their daughter with a man h: 7.5 cm., d. 11.0 cm., from a rich family. When Liang hears this, he dies of a broken heart. On the Ming dynasty, Wanli day of her wedding Zhu visits his grave. The grave opens and Zhu jumps into period (1573-1620), it, whereupon the lovers emerge from the grave together, transformed into two early ^ century. Keramiekmuseum big butterflies. The design of a pair of beautiful butterflies is thus a symbol of Princessehof, lnv.no. romance and eternal love. OKS 1969-77 In China, butterflies are associated with beautiful scents because they are attracted by the fragrance of flowers. There is a story of a girl who was so proficient in the art of perfuming herself that wherever she went, butterflies would follow her. It is therefore no surprise to find the motif of butterflies on a Chinese hat perfumer (figs. 4 and 5), a device using for applying perfume to hats. The upper part has a round cover for holding the perfume, which would disperse through the openings. Four medallions of two butterflies facing one Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:54:51AM another are the main decorative element pierced into the upper globularvia part free access Fig. 2 Cup and saucer, decorated with butterflies and peonies, Jingdezhen porcelain with overglaze enamels. Saucer: d. 10.5 cm., Cup: h. 4.3 cm., Qing dynasty, Daoguang mark and period (1821-1850). Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, lnv.no. NO 2375 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:54:51AM via free access Fig. 3 of this hat perfumer. The ground is decorated with the ‘sacred lotus’ pattern Detail offig. 2 on gold; stylized lotus flowers and scrolls. The lower part is a column on a round base. The porcelain stand is decorated with gold decorations on a red- glazed background, in imitation of lacquer. Hat stands of this shape are only known to have been made in the Qjanlong era (1736-1795). Like the one from Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, they are normally painted using the familie rosé palette and gold.5

Chinese paintings

Another association of butterflies, flowers and scent is to be found on paintings of the Tang dynasty. It seems that butterfly painting started with Li Yuanying (d. 684), who became Prince Teng. He was the 22nd son of the founding emperor of the dynasty. He is remembered in China because he built the Pavilion of Prince Teng, Teng Wang Ge, near Nanchang, Jiangxi. Around this pavilion Prince Teng gathered the cultural elite to enjoy painting and literature. His paintings of butterflies are mentioned in the late-8th-

century Palace Poems of the Tang poet Wang JianDownloaded (c.766 from - c.830): Brill.com10/05/2021 ‘Within 11:54:51AM the palace for several days without a summons, I called for the butterfly picturevia free access F'g-4 by the Prince of Teng.’ A descendant of Prince Teng, Li Zhanran (8th century), Hat perfumer, a high court official, also seems to have painted butterflies, which he Jingdezhen porcelain identified as da hai yan ‘great sea eyes’, xiao hai yan ‘small sea eyes’, jiang with over glaze enamels and gilding, xia ban ‘river summer spots’ and cun li lai ‘coming from the village’.6 h. 27.3 cm., d. 15.5 cm., Qing dynasty, Qianlong One of the most charming very early paintings in which butterflies appear is mark and period (1735- the ladies wearing flowers in their hairt attributed to Zhou Pang (c.730 - c.800), 1795)- but perhaps somewhat later in date (fig. 6). The painting shows elegantly Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, lnv.no. dressed Tang ladies with fashionable, high and heavy coiffures, their hair NO 435 ornamented with real and artificial flowers and jewellery in the shape of flowers. The subject has been identified by Ellen J. Laing as the activities Fig-5 associated with the Flower Morning Festival, when ladies wearing large Detail of fig. 4 flowers in their hair chased butterflies.7 This last activity was known as bu die ‘striking the butterfly’, which has very sensual overtones. It seems that the Tang emperor Ming Huang (or Xuanzong) (r.712-756) organized this spring festival every year to select ladies for the inner chambers, until Yang Guifei monopolized his undivided attention. The images of beautiful court ladies ornamented with and ‘wrestling’ with butterflies (the verb bu also means ‘to wrestle’) have an explicitly erotic connotation.

Zhuangzi and the butterfly

In Chinese cultural tradition, butterflies not only represent love and sensual pleasure, but are also seen as a symbol for the spiritual world. They appear in literature and philosophy as a metaphor for dreams; for the floating, illusive and transient world. One of the earliest appearances of the butterfly in Chinese literature is in the Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:54:51AM writing of the Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi or Zhuang Zhou (late 4th centuryvia BC). free access Fig. 6 Once Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering Detail around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He did not know he was Attributed to Zhou Fang Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up, and there he was, solid and unmistakable (c. 730-800) Ladies wearing Flowers Zhuang Zhou. But he did not know if he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamt he in their Hair, was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuang Zhou. Between Zhuang Ink and colour on silk, Zhou and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Handscroll, 180 x Transformation of Things. (Trans. Watson, p. 49) 46 cm., late 8th - early 9* century. Liaoning Provincial The butterfly here is a symbol of transformation. Few creatures represent meta- Museum, Shenyang morphosis better than the brilliantly coloured, airbome butterfly, which begins life as the earth-bound Caterpillar. As different in form and appearance as Zhuangzi and the butterfly, the evolution of the Caterpillar into a butterfly suggests that there is continuity in both cases, which calls into question the validity of the distinctions normally made between different States of existence. The metamorphosis of the Caterpillar into the butterfly was for many Daoists a perfect allegory for the awakening of the Daoist adept. To quote Edward Shafer:

The ascetic butterfly emerges from the greediest of early stages. There are whole species of these creatures who have no mouth and no stomachs and therefore, understandably, do not eat or drink ... They are even more rarified beings than the Taoist transcendents, who at least nourished themselves on air and dew. They are the true progeny of Chuang Chou (Zhuangzi).8

The philosophical content of the story of Zhuangzi and the butterfly is interpreted in a painting by Lu Shoukun, titled The Self Being of Zhuangzi, dated in 1973 or 1974 (fig. 7). It is part of a series of paintings the artist called Zen paintings.9 Lu Shoukun’s painting shows the relationship between Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:54:51AM material reality and the world of the free and happy movement of the spirit.via free access Fig. 7 Lu Shoukun (1919-1975) The Self Being of Zhuangzi, ink on paper, 1338 x 70 cm., dated in 1973 or 1974. Hong Kong Museum of Art

The heavy black brushstrokes represent the material world, the reality into which Zhuangzi awakes after his dream; the butterfly, associated by its red wings, symbolizes the sphere of the free spirit. On the right-hand side of the painting are the title of the painting The Self Being of Zhuangzi, the date and the artist’s signature, thus forming a connection between the upper, spiritual, and lower, material parts of the painting. The empty white space is where the constant metamorphosis of nature takes place, where the boundaries to transcendence are to be found. The black, white and red represent traditional Chinese aesthetics: most monochrome ink paintings bear the red seal of the painter. It is a non-verbal, ‘mystic’ form of communication and reception, which the painter refers to as ‘Zen’. It differs from, for instance, paintings of the literati tradition, where the inscription instructs the viewer on how to Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:54:51AM interpret the depiction. via free access □ Butterflies in the Netherlands Metamorphosis is the key term, the tertium comparationis, to connect the philosophical symbolism of the butterfly in the East with the Christian symbolism of butterflies in the West. In Christian tradition, butterflies and other animals, such as lizards, that shed their skins or emerge from hibernation, were often used as symbols of the resurrection of Christ. Butterflies, caterpillars and other insects, in combination with flowers, represent the most common subject matter of Dutch still life painting of the 17th century.10

The Dutch painter Johannes Goedaert (1617-1668), who lived and worked in Middelburg, is well known for his still lifes. He was very interested in insects, becoming one of the first entomologists in the Netherlands. Like the early Chinese Daoists, he actually captured caterpillars and observed their metamorphosis into butterflies. In 1662 and 1667 he published his major work: Metamorphosis Naturalis. A print from this work shows the metamorphosis of a Red Admiral from the Caterpillar to the pupa to the butterfly (fig. 8). In this work Goedaert gives a religious interpretation of his observations. He compares the metamorphosis of insects with mankind’s life on earth and in heaven: ‘lek heb oock selfs vande hope der Christenen, welcke is de opstandinge tot een volkomen en geluckigh ende eeuwigh leven, eenighsints een voor-beldt ende ghelijekenisse in dese geringe dieren bespeurt.’ (In these creatures I observe an example of and likeness to the hope of Christians, which is to be resurrected to a perfect and blissful life everlasting).11

Van i tas

Flowers, butterflies and caterpillars occur in the Dutch still life as representations of the classical vanitas motif. In art historical literature, the meaning of the term vanitas relates to the aspects of vanity, emptiness and transience of earthly life. The subject of the still life is mostly a precious, fragile object, which represents transience. Moreover, the expense of the painting itself, and thus its expression of the collector’s vanity, was also an example of empty materialism. This was also true for the rare and exotic flowers such as tulips, peonies and roses, which were also precious items at that time, sometimes affording extraordinarily high prices. Ephemeral flowers such as these, which lose their petals quickly, are a perfect example of transience. The symbolism of roses and peonies is also mentioned by Joachim Camerarius, in Symbola et emblemata, commenting on the ‘Passing pleasure’, Caduca Voluptas, of these flowers: ‘Just as this lovely rosé, with its hundredfold flower, perishes, so will the glow of beauty and life soon pass away’. The explanatory text about the peony States: ‘Even more beautiful, though, is the peony from Spain, with its more than 500 petals. Rain and too much sun cause its petals to fall. Superficial beauty is fragile, fading away with age. Abundance soon dwindles to naught, life is vain and brief.’12

For an example of a vanitas still life painting I will turn to a Frisian painter from Leeuwarden, Willem de Heer (c. 1638-1681), a nephew of the artist Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:54:51AM Margaretha de Heer (c. 1600 - c. 1665).13 His Still life with flowers, insectsvia and free access Fig. 8 (left) a dead bird, dated to the last quarter of the 17th century (fig. 9), combines all Johannes Goedaert the main clements of a vanitas: flowers, roses and tulips; a dead bird; a cricket; (1617-1668), other small insects; a Caterpillar and butterflies. The small dead bird, lying on Metamorphosis. From: Segal, 1990, its back with closed eyes and broken wings, is a most pitiful sight. The flowers p.200 are depicted fully blown and just about to start dropping their petals. In de Heer's painting it seems that only the Caterpillar and the butterflies are F'g-9 able to offer hope. The Caterpillar, this earth-bound creature, representing the Willem de Heer (c.1638- earthly phase of man with his burden of sin, contains new life; one day, he 1681), Still life with flowers, will shrug off his depraved nature, turn into a butterfly and soar up into the insects and a dead bird, sky. Those who lead a pious life will be similarly transformed from a Lastquarterofthe Caterpillar into a butterfly and rise to heaven. i7th century, Gouache on paper. Fries Museum, Conclusion Leeuwarden The Dutch still life comprises the same clements of subject matter as Chinese painting and ceramics designs containing flowers and butterflies. However, the meaning and the message it conveys, coming from the divergent cultural traditions, is quite different. Whereas the Chinese depictions of beautiful flowers and colourful butterflies, with their connotations of sensuality, represent pleasure for the eyes and for the mind, the Dutch still life confronts the viewer with a moral choice. One represents the path of the soul in a Christian sense, a spiritual route leading to heaven, and the other represents the path of the material body indulging in sensory pleasures; appreciation of the earthly and evanescent enjoyment of riches and luxury. *

* Dr. Eva Ströber is currently curator of Oriental ceramics at Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden. Before coming to the Netherlands she has worked at the Porcelain Collection Dresden, Germany, as curator for the collection of Oriental porcelain of Augustus the Strong. Her academie background is Chinese studies, Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:54:51AM Oriental art history and comparative religion. via free access 0 Literature

Avitabile, Gunhild, Vom Schatz der Drachen: From the Dragon’s Treasure. Chinese Porcelain from the 19th and 20th Centuries in the Weishaupt Collection, London, 1987. Breuker, Philippus, Peter Karstkarel and Veerle Mans, Margaretha de Heer (circa 1600 - circa 1665), Fries Museum Leeuwarden, 2002. Camerarius, Joachim, Symbola et emblemata, Nürnberg, 1590-1604. Eberhard, Wolfram, A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols, London/New York, 1986. ‘Among Flora and Fauna’, Kaikodo Journal V (1997), p. 148. ‘A natural selection’, Kaikodo Journal XIX (2001), pp. 70-71. Laing, Ellen Johnston, ‘Notes on Ladies wearing flowers in their hair’, Orientations, 21/2 (1990), pp. 32-39. Lu Shoukun, ‘Symbolism and Zen: A contemporary Chinese approach to abstract painting’, Oriental Art, New Series, XIX-3 (1973), pp. 302-305. Segal, Sam, Flowers and Nature: Netherlandish Flower Painting of Four Centuries, Amsterdam, 1990. Shafer, Edward, The Vermilion Bird: Tang Images of the South, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1967. Wang Qingzheng, A Dictionary of Chinese Ceramics, Singapore, 2002. Watson, Burton, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, New York, 1968. Whitfield, Roderick, Fascination of Nature: Plants and Insects in Chinese Painting and Ceramics of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Seoul, 1993.

Notes

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Harriet Impey for her language advice.

1. Photographs Keramiekmuseum Princessehof by Johan van der Veer. 2. See Whitfield, 1993, for motifs on ceramics, pp. 61-71. 3. Crickets are a popular and auspicious motif in art. One of the Chinese words for them, xishuai, sounds similar to xi ‘happiness’, and xi ‘auspicious’. Together with cicadas, crickets are associated with spring and summer, when people enjoy the chirping of these insects. These insects were, and sometimes still are, kept as ‘pets’ in containers, mostly made of hollow gourds. 4. Eberhard, 1986, p. 52. 5. Compare the examples in Wang Qjngzheng, 2002, p. 91, and Avitabile 1987, pl. 8, p. 24. 6. See Kaikodo Journal (1997), p. 148, footnote 3. 7. See Laing, 1998, pp. 32-39. 8. Shafer, 1967, p. 211. 9. On his ‘Zen paintings’ see Lu Shoukun, 1973, pp. 302-305. 10. For Dutch still lifes see Segal, 1990. 11. Quoted after Segal, 1990, p. 199. 12. Quoted after Segal, 1990, p. 157. 13. See the book and catalogue by Breuker, Karstkarel and Mans, 2002.

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