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Description

Firecracker paper depicting a green and off-white container holding yellow and red as well as pink and white flowers and green foliage and silver details. The paper is painted.

History Of Use

Invented in China around the 12th century or earlier, firecrackers have been widely used in China to serve a variety of religious and secular purposes. In both the past and present, firecrackers are used to ward off evil spirits, to honour spirits and deities, and to mark special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, funerals, shop openings, or festivals. Firecrackers are by far in greatest demand during the annual Lunar New Year, when they are ignited to purify a space and to blast away negative energies and demons. Firecrackers are also used in “fengshui” geomantic practices, as ritual objects to be hung in the home to stimulate new beginnings, prosperity, and the protection of the household. A large number of firecracker labels were produced from approximately 1850-1910, in the Guangdong region of southern China, to decorate the wooden crates that they were shipped in. Since many of these were produced in Foshan (Fatshan), a city noted for its manufacture of handmade ritual goods, collectors often refer to them as “Fat Shan” labels. They range in size from smaller four-inch squares to larger circular labels with a twenty-four inch diameter. The labels are colourfully painted with auspicious themes, including depictions of deities, legends and myths, historical narratives, and scenes of everyday life. The images enhance the fireworks’ role in dispelling evil while attracting virtue and prosperity. These labels were widely sold in south-central and south-west China, and south-east Asia. Local manufacturers and merchants would order bulk firecrackers, pack them into wooden crates, and decorate the crates with these labels to entice potential distributors and consumers. Aside from their use as firecracker labels, many people in south China used the labels to decorate their rooms and utensils. Few labels survived to today because of their fragility and the small value placed on them at the time. After 1910, these painstaking production techniques were gradually replaced by lithography machines, which allowed artisans to print full colour labels on rice paper.

Iconographic Meaning

This firecracker label takes the form of a flower vase filled with two yellow-orange pomegranates and two pink lotus blossoms. This particular combination is a rebus sign that conveys the popular blessing, “May you continuously give birth to sons” (liansheng guizi). The pomegranates, which are densely filled with seeds, have long served as signs of fertility in Chinese art. The Chinese character for lotus blossom (he hua or lian hua) is a pun for “harmony” (he) and “successive” or “continuous” (lian). Shown together, they indicate great progeny for the family lineage and harmonious relations. The image of the vase further enhances the message as an auspicious rebus sign because the character for vase (ping) is a homophone for “peace” (ping an).