Chinese Ancestral Tablet

Chinese Ancestral Tablet

Ethnography

"Lacquered wooden ancestral tablet in red, black and gold,. Chinese inscriptions on front. The tablet and based comprise two separate pieces of wood, a tall upright rectangular piece with rounded top, set into a rectangular base, probably with glue. The object is slightly unstable, the pieces adhered at slight angles. The face of the upright part and the front side of the base are decorated with scroll designs in gold, the central part of the face being reserved for an inscription in Chinese characters (hard to read).

Written on object (back): '_ Bell with love, given up by Lau Poik Sui at Spring Class Hu City 1903. Her own name was pasted over the bright bit of lacquer on a piece of paper which was not to be torn off until she died. She torn it off in my presence, it is her husband's name on the other side_' " (UCL Ethnographic Collections)

Such a tablet is supposed to contain one of the three spirits of the dead. After death one spirit entered the unseen world, the second went into the grave and the third entered the tablet, which was kept in the household and worshipped at intervals by male descendants.

UCL Ethnographic Collections (M. 0106)

Similar object in Glasgow: http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/starobject.html?oid=147271

wood

Chinese, English