Ancient Chinese Art
Circular plaque with bats and coin, Jade, 5.1 cm diameter. Qing dynasty, 19th century, Gift of R.W. Winskill. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
This strange plaque is a rebus, a visual pun. The character for bat in Chinese is fu, but another character pronounced this way means �happiness� or �blessing,� so the artist used the image of a bat. The coin is not money but another rebus, since a pun on the word for money (qian) also means �in front of.� The hole in the middle of the coin is referred to as
an �eye.� Thus this design is a riddle which means �Blessings in front of your eyes� or �Blessings right here and now.�