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I would be very grateful for help translating this inscription, which is on the back of a relief that was apparently above a temple doorway. (The photo may be upside down.) Many thanks!

Not able to help with question, but I had to express how beautiful this carving is. Truly amazing in its fluidity and detail. I hope you find the answers you are looking for. Gosh. This is just great. Thanks for your time.

Your carving carving of plum blossoms has a two-character stack in standard characters reading down as "Brilliance and devotion" (mandarin Guang zhong - 光忠) followed by a single script character that I think but am not positive might mean "Whetstone" (mandarin Li - 砺) but resembles the often unreadable personal marks I've seen used by some Japanese ivory carvers.

There's a strong possibility that the carving is Japanese and came from a set of carvings comprising the "Three Friends of Winter", which are the plum, pine and bamboo, which in Chinese, Japanese and other Asian cultures symbolize the steadfastness and other strengths whereby they can survive harsh winters and in the case of the plum flower, burst through crusts of late winter snow in blooming back to life. The Japanese call the trio "Sho Chiku Bai" (松竹梅 - literally "pine, bamboo, plum"). The carving also might have come from Taiwan, which was a Japanese colony until 1945 and where a song called "Meihua" (Plum Blossom) is an unofficial anthem of the Taiwanese. They and Mainland Chinese call the Three Friends the "San You" (三友}.

Wikipedia has more on this trio at the following URL:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Friends_of_Winter

I've attached a photo of a Japanese charger with the Three Friends design in the center.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thank you, Bill! This is very interesting and very helpful. I'm happy to hear your suggestion that the piece is likely Japanese. The dealer identified it as Japanese, and the wing-like profile of the top edge looks like a bargeboard pendant from the ceiling of an entrance gate to a Japanese temple (karahafu gegyo or unokedooshi). It’s about 3 feet wide, so the size is about right for a smaller gate. I’ll attach an image of a similar but more elaborate one at the Dazaifu Tenmangū shrine in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, also with plum blossoms.

If this identification is right, the inscription probably would have been invisible after it was installed, which makes the meaning even more intriguing. The last character could then very well be the mark of the carver, as you suggest. I know of other cases where artisans left their undecipherable marks on hidden surfaces of temple carvings. In that case, “brilliance” and “devotion” might also be a sort of dedication by the carver. I’ll see what else I can find on the topic of hidden carvers’ marks, but you’ve set me on a very promising path.

Many thanks again.

Christopher

Christopher, is there any chance you might be able to post a photo or two showing side views of this carving? Thank you

Hello Hans,

Thanks for your interest in this piece. Here are three more photos.

The image of the back shows the undulating profile of the top, which I think would have been attached to a karahafu-type gable above a temple entrance. At the center left and center right, maybe an inch below the top, you can see the dowel holes for pegs that would have secured the tenons that were attached to the gable roof.

The top view shows the rectangular cuttings for the two tenons.

Also, one side view. The other side looks pretty much the same.

Does this make sense to you? If my understanding is right, the strange thing is that the inscription (the first two characters, 光忠, are the name of the carver, Mitsutada) is upside down, as are a couple of later labels: W.891, in red paint, and 108, written on a paper label. And you can see from the D-ring hanger that a previous owner also thought that the double-curved surface was the bottom of the piece. (In that case, it would have functioned more as a kaerumata, but I think that those are always attached to transverse beams and have completely flat bases.)

Thanks for any thoughts or info you might have about this.

Christopher

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