Undead Author Society

Zoomorphic silver figurine with beast mask and inscription. Culture: Chinese, Qing dynasty. Place of origin: China. Date: 18th century AD. Medium: silver. Private Collection. The inscription is a wordplay on the Chinese idiom 耀武扬威 (yào wǔ yáng wēi), meaning “to flaunt military might,” commonly used of arrogant people who try to intimidate others. In this piece, the character 扬/揚 (“to raise”) in the idiom is replaced with its homophone 陽/阳 (yáng). 陽 primarily means “sun” or “yang, the male principle,” and it is the first element in Chinese terms that denote the penis (e.g., 阳具). Thus both the wording and the sculpture’s clearly phallic form deliberately allude to “displaying power.”