Today’s Story from the Museum Floor by Fang from the Visitor Team is the final part in the series ‘Four Noble Plants in Chinese Culture’. We have already looked at Plum, Orchid and Bamboo, and now we turn our attention to Chrysanthemum.

For more about our botany collections here at Manchester Museum, take a look at the curator’s blog. And to see more on Chinese plants, have a look at our digital exhibition, British Museum touring spotlight Loan: A Ming Emperor’s Seat.

Manchester Museum’s hello future redevelopment will include the Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery. To find out more, and to keep up to date with new developments at Manchester Museum, take a look at our hello future blog.

Four Noble Plants in Chinese Culture Part 4: Chrysanthemum

花中四君子之菊

To welcome Autumn and the Chinese Autumn Festival, today’s blog is about the autumn flower Chrysanthemum, and is my last post of this series on the Four Noble Plants in Chinese Culture.

Chrysanthemum for Autumn Festival

This year, British Summer Time ends on Sunday, 25^th October, which marks the coming of Autumn. Coincidently, it is the Double Ninth Festival observed by the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese, as it is the ninth day of the ninth month (9^th September) in the Chinese calendar. The chrysanthemum, an autumn flower, is specifically associated with this festival.

It has been a traditional Chinese holiday since before the Eastern Han period (CE 25). According to the Yi Jing (Classic of Changes), nine is a Yang number. As the 9^th September (double nine) has too much Yang (a traditional Chinese spiritual concept), it is thus a potentially dangerous date. Hence, the day is also called ‘Double Yang Festival’, and to avoid danger it is a tradition to climb a mountain, drink chrysanthemum liquor, and wear a sprig of the plant Cornus officinalis (Asiatic dogwood). Both Cornus officinalis and chrysanthemum are considered to have cleansing qualities and are used to freshen homes and cure illnesses. It is customary to appreciate chrysanthemum flowers, drink chrysanthemum liquor, and eat chrysanthemum cakes on this autumn festival day.

The yellow chrysanthemum represents the golden season (source).

China is the native habitat of chrysanthemums, which have been cultivated there for more than 3,000 years. In the Tang Dynasty (around the 8th century CE), the ornamental chrysanthemum was passed from China to Japan via Korea. At the end of the 17th century, Dutch merchants introduced Chinese chrysanthemums to Europe, and in the mid-19th century they reached North America. After that, Chinese chrysanthemums spread all over the world. By 2014, it was estimated that there were over 20,000 cultivars in the world with about 7,000 in China.

Below are some of the most beautiful Chinese cultivars of chrysanthemum.

On December 10, 1960, the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued a set of 18 special stamps of ‘Chrysanthemums’. This was the first large-scale set of special flower stamps in the history of Chinese stamp issuance. Many Bird-and-Flower artists participated in their design.

Here, as I promised, I would like to thank Kate Eggleston-Wirtz, Artist in Residence at the Manchester Museum, who kindly gave me two Chrysanthemum stamps from this set in her workshop for the Beauty and the Beasts exhibition.

On the left is a herbarium specimen of Chrysanthemum segetum, collected in England in 1903 by Charles Bailey (1838-1924), a Manchester merchant and plant collector. His extensive collections of European plant specimens were donated to Manchester Museum, and form a major part of the Museum’s botanical collections.

On the right is a botanical illustration of a pompon chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium), currently displayed in the Museum’s digital exhibition, ‘The British Museum Touring Spotlight Loan: A Ming Emperor’s Seat’.

Chrysanthemum – Hermit of Flowers

The chrysanthemum emerges early in spring, but only bears buds when autumn falls and as other flowers wither. Against the chilly frost, it comes into full bloom, with a bright spectrum of colour yet with a low-key elegance. This represents a tranquil mind of indifference to fame and fortune, which reflects the pursuit of classical Chinese gentlemen.

Since ancient times the chrysanthemum has been deeply cherished by Chinese scholars and known as the ‘Hermit of All Flowers’. This is largely due to the association with the foremost of the Recluse Poets, Tao Yuanming (陶渊明, CE 365-327), the pioneer of the so-called ‘Fields and Gardens’ poetry. He spent much of his life in seclusion, living in the countryside, farming, reading, drinking wine, meeting friends occasionally, and writing poems in which he often reflected on the joy and hardship of life, his care for the welfare of the common people, as well as his renunciation of officialdom and a return to nature. He found inspiration for his poetry in the beauty and tranquillity of the natural world.

The above painting emulates the lines from Tao Yuanming’s famous poem ‘Drinking Wine’: “While picking asters [chrysanthemums] beneath the Eastern fence, my gaze upon the Southern mountain rests” (采菊东篱下, 悠然见南山, translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang), which have been chanted throughout ages.

Chrysanthemum, Tea and Art in a Cup

Chrysanthemum is a symbol of longevity and wealth, and a wish for a peaceful retirement. This is not only because chrysanthemum (菊, Jú) sounds similar to both the word 居 Jū, meaning ‘to reside’ and久 Jiǔ, meaning ‘long enduring’, but also because it has health-giving properties. Yellow or white chrysanthemum flowers of the species C. morifolium are boiled to make a tea in China and some parts of East Asia. The chrysanthemum is said to have antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties, and so is said to treat cold, headache, vertigo, and conjunctivitis.

The chrysanthemum is also a much-loved and popular motif in traditional Chinese arts like textiles, porcelain, lacquerware, ink painting, wood carving, and jade carving.

Chrysanthemum motifs featured on porcelain teacups in the Manchester Museum’s collection.

Finally, please allow me to wrap up this series of blogs with a traditional Chinese painting of the Four Noble Plants: Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum (梅兰竹菊).   

The Four Gentlemen: Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum (shown in the traditional right-to-left order) by Zheng Xiaojing, Chinese contemporary Bird-and-Flower painter (source).

Fang Zong

Find out more:

For more about our botany collections here at Manchester Museum take a look at the curator’s blog, and for more on chrysanthemums, this super post on Chrysanthemum Tea.

For more about our botany collections here at Manchester Museum, take a look at the curator’s blog. And to see more on Chinese plants, have a look at our digital exhibition, British Museum touring spotlight Loan: A Ming Emperor’s Seat.

Manchester Museum’s hello future redevelopment will include the Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery. To find out more, and to keep up to date with new developments at Manchester Museum, take a look at our hello future blog.

Plum Blossom, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum, by Wang Jing ©http://www.press-mart.com, ©http://www.hsbok.cn