Ivory padlock for hanging from a child’s necklace. Two fish holding the inserted handle in the mouths over scalloped plaque. Legend: “A hundred sons and a thousand grandsons” on one side; ”May five generations reside under one roof” on the other. Width: 4.7 cm; height: 4 cm; 1 cm thick.
Donor:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection place:
Beijing, Beijing municipality, Northern China
Verbatim coll. place:
Manchu (Qing) Dynasty. 1644-1911. Purchased by Ilse Fang in Peking in 1943.
Culture or time period:
Manchu people and Qing dynasty (1644–1912 AD)
Collector:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection date:
1943
Materials:
Ivory (material)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Pendants (jewelry)
Function:
2.2 Personal Adornments and Accoutrements
Production date:
Manchu (Qing) Dynasty
Accession date:
December 15, 1998
Context of use:
“The child is to be locked up safely against possibility of kidnapping and evil spirits with this lock”
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Dimensions:
height 4 centimeters and width 4.7 centimeters
Comment:
Per Cynthia Ji, Sept.18, 2018: "This pendant represents a lock given by anyone at the birth, after a month, or after 100 days (depending on the region of China that you are born in) of a new child. The "five generations" reference is either a statement that the baby is part of the fifth generation of that family currently alive or a blessing of sorts for the whole family, that the baby will be part of the first of five future generations.