Pun Design ：

magnolia + long-tailed pheasant

Punning Details：

– ‘yu 玉’ in ‘yu lan 玉兰 magnolia’ puns on ‘yu 玉’ in ‘yu tang 玉堂’ which means ‘jade hall’, ‘grand household’ or ‘the national academy’.

– The long-tailed pheasant is also called ‘jin ji 锦鸡 multicoloured cockerel’, in which ‘jin 锦’ is the same word and has the same meaning with ‘jin 锦’ in ‘jin xiu 锦绣’ in Chinese, meaning ‘exquisite and bright’.

Therefore, the composition of magnolia and multicoloured pheasant forms a pun rebus picture expressing an auspicious wish – ‘May your jade residence be prosperous’.

Related Pun Pictures:

May your splendid house be filled with wealth and prestige 锦堂富贵

May your jade palatial home be honoured and full of riches 玉堂富贵

May your household be piled high with gold and jade 金玉满堂

• Fig 1: porcelain vase with underglaze blue and overglaze enamelled decoration, Shunzhi period (1644–61), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing, China, photography by Rachel Ma

  Fig 2: famille noire vase, Kangxi period (1662–1722), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London

  Fig 3: famille verte porcelain dish, Kangxi (1662–1722) period, Qing dynasty, courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

  Fig 4: famille rose porcelain dish, Yongzheng period (1723–35), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing, China

  Fig 5: porcelain vase with overglaze decoration, 18^th century, courtesy of Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University

  Fig 6: famille rose porcelain vase, Qianlong – Jiaqing Period, Qing dynasty, previously owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York