Qilin is a mythical creature known in Chinese cul-ture, said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler. It is a good omen of prosperity or serenity and can always be found on the decoration of bronze wares.
This pattern is also designed according to the pattern on a bronze ware. The back side has a sentence from a poem, which use Qilin to represent kind person.
The meaning of the poem is to warn leaders keeping away from mean people but staying with kind and talented people.
Traditional Chinese Pattern
The theme is inspired from traditional Chinese poems and patterns.
All of the patterns has the same outline which is taken from the porcelain bottle. Some details are learned from patterns on traditional Chinese costumes, vessels, architectures and paintings, which includes plants and animals, as well as sceneries. Some are inspired from traditional poems.
I designed the bookmarks below, which were hand drawn and scanned to the digital version. The front side is a pattern, and the back side is a part of a poem which is related to the pattern.
Phoenix Spreads Wings
As ancient Chinese legend has it, phoenix is the king of all birds, and symbolizes good fortune, eternity, nobility and happiness. Hence, phoenix is a very po-pular pattern in ancient China.
I designed the phoenix pattern based on some refe-rences like embroideries and paintings from ancient
China, as well as adding the poem which also has the theme of phoenix.
The poem says: phoenix is singing on the top of the mountain, the plane trees are growing under the ris-ing sun. It means a good omen for the country, peo-ple who are talented can always find their positions.
Qilin (Chinese Unicorn)
Honeysuckle Motif
This kind of scrolled weed pattern was popular in the decoration of traditional Chinese porcelain and some other utensils. It has the leaves scrolled randomly, showing a free and stretching look.
The pattern became really popular in Tang Dynasty, so it is also called Tang dynasty flower design. I made the leaves plump and soft so that we can feel the freedom and vitality from the pattern.
The poem on the back side says: On the moor is the creeping grass, on the grass is the shining dewdrop.
A beautiful lady who has a slim and graceful appearance, is standing there with a bashful smile.
Mountain Road
The Mountain Road is not a kind of traditional pa-ttern, but inspired from a poem written by Li Bai, one of the most famous poets in Tang dynasty. The poem "Hard Roads in Shu" he wrote shows the dan-gerously steep mountain road in Sichuan.
He exclaimed in the poem: Walking on the narrow paths of Shu is more difficult than climbing up to Heaven.
I use circles and curves to design a 3D look pattern. The curves spread from the bottom to the top to represent the difficult mountain roads.
Landscape
I got the inspiration from a landscape pattern of Song Dynasty. The pattern contains rivers and mountains with the sea of clouds. It shows the beautiful scenery in remote mountains and gives us a very easy mood.
I also use the style of ink and wash for reference to create this pattern. The rocks and waves, as well as the clouds are all constituted by simple lines and curves.
On the back side, I use a poem from Cao Cao, which says: I walk towards east and climb on the mountain to view the sea. Water is running under my feet, and the hills are standing in the end of the horizon.
Fox
Fox is not a traditional pattern. But in a lot of old legends, fox is always a popular character in diffe-rent dynasties. In the ancient stories, a fox has nine lives and can transform to a beautiful girl.
I use the narrow and long eyes, the most obvious feature on its appearance, to design this abstract pa-ttern. It will make the whole design look more mysterious and interesting.
The poem tells a love story: A lady saw a lonely fox was crossing a bridge. It reminded her of her distant lover and she worried about whether her lover had enough clothes to wear or just like this lonely fox, cold and poor.