May each generation of your family be made life peers
辈辈封侯
Pun Design:
Carrying on the Back + Monkey
Punning Details:
– ‘bei 背’ for ‘carrying on the back’ makes a pun on ‘bei 辈’ for ‘generation’
– ‘hou 猴’ from ‘hou zi 猴子’ for ‘monkey’ puns on ‘hou 侯’ for ‘marquis’
Therefore, the image of a monkey on the back of another monkey is used to express a good wish that the receiver’s family members are bestowed titles of marquis generation after generation.
画面要素: 背 + 猴
谐音详情: 动作‘背’与‘辈’谐音，意为：世世代代；‘猴’与‘侯’谐音，是帝国时代爵位体系中的第二等爵位
Related Pun Pictures:
May you be bestowed the title of a marquis presently 马上封侯
May promotion be yours; May you advance in official rank 加官晋爵
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Fig 1: jade carving, 10th-11th century, Liao dynasty, from Filippo Salviati (2004), The Language of Adornment: Chinese Ornaments of Jade, Crystal, Amber and Glass, Myrna Myers publishing.
Fig 2-3: white jade carving, 18th century, courtesy of Christie’s Auction House, New York, 21 Sept 2023, Lot 825