Slowly, slowly, I move things that came from Wimbledon out of the garage, and into new homes. Among a handful of ornaments and pictures that I took into the office today was this tin plate, which my father acquired in Hong Kong at the end of the war, and was always on display somewhere. Until packing things up in London, I don't think that I'd ever realized that it was tin, not china. And until yesterday, I'd never noticed that he'd stuck a label on the back, saying "This means Longevity." I think it does - if any Chinese speaker is reading this, please confirm (or not) - it doesn't, when I check on line, look quite like the standard longevity symbol - but it doesn't look that far removed from it. If this is its meaning, it certainly worked, so I should definitely keep it close by ...
My mom did not recognize that character... It's a pretty plate and very cool to discover your dad's handwriting on the back!
ReplyDeleteI hoped that you or your mother might be my reliable informant ... (but please thank her!) ... it is So Typical of my father - or indeed either of my parents - to pass on unreliable information about their belongings ... (the "valuable antiques" that actually turned out to be two pieces cobbled together, etc ...). But I'll choose to believe that *he* thought this is what it meant - it's probably what the twenty-three year old man in naval uniform was told ... it certainly did its job! And yes, it's very pretty!
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