Memorial Days!

	Chinese Ancestor Screen; Shanxi Province, China; Late 18th/Early19th C.; 66 W x 22 D x 87 H inches; I.D. # A010613-683

What is a memorial? Is it strictly a building, sculpture, gravestone, gate, monument, plaque or place; all accepted forms of memorials? Must it exist physically? “Memorial Day” in America exists in time, not space. Can a memorial honor something other than the deceased? The Bill of Rights memorializes our individual liberties as citizens, not the people who gave their lives to see it respected or enforced. What is the real purpose of a memorial? Is it to commemorate people, places and ideas; or is it to focus our memory like a lens on the process of recollection? After all, the root of the word memorial is memory; a faculty residing at the heart of this week’s New Arrival.

Chinese Ancestor Screen; Detail showing dragons and "double happiness" motifs; I.D. # A010613-683

This week’s New Arrival features an unusual floor screen incorporating a Chinese ancestor portrait. In China, the concept of ancestor worship goes all the way back to the time of Confucius, around twenty-five hundred years ago. He defined it as “filial piety,” the idea of respectfully honoring the deceased to bring well-being to the living. If you think about it, ancestor worship really doesn’t require anything other than the intention of the living; although it is helpful to have a focal point like a memorial at hand. Take this screen; for example. Made at the same time America was founded, it is a reminder that Memorial Day can actually be 365 days per year.