18th C. cast iron Han Style Figure of a Pig

When a Pig Enters the Door...

What will you take into the afterlife? Your best suit and tie; your favorite watch; the charm bracelet you quietly assembled since childhood? If you were King Tut the choice would be strange animals, statues, and gold; “wonderful things” as described by their discoverer, Howard Carter. If you were an ancient Chinese emperor, aristocrat or noble, your choice would be ceramic statues of people, animals and architectural structures called mingqi, meaning ‘bright utensils.’ It was believed these objects eased the transition into the next world. Maybe you would choose nothing, preferring to leave just like you arrived. 

In China the Pig traditional is a symbol for happiness

This week’s New Arrival features a Chinese mingqi sculpture of a pig. Although the most famous mingqi artifacts date back 2,000 years ago, the practice of creating these sculptures continued right through the 19th century. Most were made from terra cotta, but some were cast in metal. Yet, the material was less important than what the mingqi represented. There is an old Chinese proverb stating, “When the pig enters the door, abundant happiness will arrive.”  Think about what it would mean to have this pig in your life at the present time, not the afterlife. You need not wait to have happiness arrive in the here and now.

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