Rubbing of an Illustrated Brick with a Lion and Ribbon Ball from the Fenghuang Third Year

Rubbing of an Illustrated Brick with a Lion and Ribbon Ball from the Fenghuang Third Year Anonymous, Wu dynasty (222-280) Lion dances were popular among commonfolk in the Han dynasty, in which one person would play the role of a lion and the other tease it with a ribbon and ball. The motif in art of a lion with a ribbon ball probably derives from it. The imagery in this illustrated brick also has the auspicious meaning of averting disaster and dispelling evil, presaging the arrival of something fortuitous. Hence the proverb, “When the lion rolls a brocaded ball, good things are sure to come.” Engraved into the original brick is also an inscription in seal script for “Fenghuang third year of the Wu,” which corresponds to 274 CE. The characters are upright and angular, the spacing between them evenly arranged. The lines that appear in the rubbing are even more archaic and simple, the squarish structure already revealing a touch of clerical script. Mr. Yeh Kung-shao donated this rubbing to the National Palace Museum.