Willow pattern
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Willow pattern is a distinctive and elaborate pattern used on some pottery plates. The pattern was designed by Thomas Minton around 1790 and has been in use for over 200 years, although it is perhaps not as popular now as it once was.
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[edit] Story behind the Pattern
The Legend of the Willow Pattern was invented by the English over 200 years ago to promote pottery sales of a china willow pattern based on an older china pattern. The story usually runs as described below (with the frequent references to the figures in the plate design omitted). There are variations of the story.
[edit] Substance of the story
Once there was a wealthy mandarin, who had a beautiful daughter (Koong-se). She had fallen in love with her father's humble accounting assistant (Chang), angering her father (it was inappropriate for them to marry due to their difference in social class). He dismissed the young man and built a high fence around his house to keep the lovers apart. The Mandarin was planning for his daughter to marry a powerful Duke. The Duke arrived by boat to claim his bride, bearing a box of jewels as a gift. The wedding was to take place on the day the blossom fell from the willow tree.
On the eve of the daughter's wedding to the Duke, the young accountant, disguised as a servant, slipped into the palace unnoticed. As the lovers escaped with the jewels, the alarm was raised. They ran over a bridge, chased by the Mandarin, whip in hand. They eventually escaped on the Duke's ship to the safety of a secluded island, where they lived happily for years. But one day, the Duke learned of their refuge. Hungry for revenge, he sent soldiers, who captured the lovers and put them to death. The Gods, moved by their plight, transformed the lovers into a pair of doves (possibly a later addition to the tale, since the birds do not appear on the earliest willow pattern plates).
This tale is narrated as the designs on the plate are pointed to.
[edit] Cultural impact of the story
The story of the willow pattern was turned into a comic opera in 1901 called The Willow Pattern. It was also told in a 1914 silent film called Story of the Willow Pattern. Robert van Gulik also used some of the idea in his Chinese detective novel The Willow Pattern.
[edit] Origin not Chinese
The story is a typically English telling of events set in the Far East. Note that the details of the story are at odds with Chinese cultural beliefs and ethics. In Chinese culture, it would be considered irresponsible or foolish for a girl not to listen to her father, and so the happy story of love would more likely have been a cautionary tale about what happens when people shirk their duty, had it been truly of Chinese origin.
