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Description

Oval shaped label with rice paper backing and gold leaf background. Outside edge is decorated with leaves and multi-coloured flowers. Image depicts two figures, one female and one male. The female figure wears a red and purple robe and the male figure wears a green robe. The male figure is kneeling down facing the female and holding her hand. Some sprouts of grass are depicted sporadically across the ground. A multi-coloured pagoda sits in the background. On the back a label reads, "Chungkwook Kiioko Hino (?) Saok Kai Tou Chun Tutchan Chokee Chai Chou".

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 gold 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. The characteristic "gold" effect is produced from bronze or copper sheets and gold leaf, and is recognized as a speciality of Foshan. They range in size from smaller four-inch squares to larger circular labels with a twenty-four inch diameter. The gold 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 gold 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 image likely depicts the “Legend of the White Snake,” a famous folk tale in China that recounts the story of how a white snake spirit transforms into a beautiful woman to experience love, the greatest of all human emotions. She meets the gentleman Xu Xian and marries him. When her secret is revealed in a twist of events, a Buddhist Abbot named Fa Hai succeeds in capturing her spirit inside the Thunder Pagoda. In this image, the kneeling man in green robes is Xu Xian. He appears to be proposing to the maiden, the human form of the White Snake spirit. In the background, we see the Thunder Pagoda. The story conveys both the power of love and the fragile boundaries between the human and spirit realms.

Specific Techniques

Gold labels were handmade in workshops using assembly line techniques. Artisans first cut out the labels' overall shape from bronze or copper foil. Next, they apply a thin rice paper backing to strengthen the foil. To texturize the foil, the artisans used pointed tools to emboss designs. These sheets were pinned to a wall or table so that several painters could work on them. The backgrounds would be painted first, followed by the details in the foreground using smaller brushes. During the last application, even finer brushes were used for the facial features and calligraphy. Some shiny areas of the original bronze or copper foil were left exposed. It was also common to add a layer of gold leaf designs, pressed out of hand-carved wooden blocks, to further accentuate the design.