500 piece puzzle, "Five-Clawed Dragon," Springbok Editions, USA.
Here's a quick puzzle I bought recently used but unconfirmed on eBay. I'm pleased to find that it's in perfect condition and all there, a much better experience than the Jaymar version of the same image that I built last year.
I've said it before but will say it again: Springboks from the 1960s are among the finest quality jigsaw puzzles ever made, and this 1967 example is no different: exquisitely printed, elegantly packaged, flawlessly manufactured, and always a bit more challenging than one might expect. Like early Ravensburger puzzles, they can withstand repeated use and still look virtually brand new. These days vintage Springboks are highly sought after collector's items, sometimes fetching eye-raising sums on various online auctions. I have been slowly accumulating more and more gems from this era, when good deals come up on eBay and elsewhere.
The full title of the puzzle is "Five-Clawed Dragon: Embroidered Roundel from an Imperial Robe," which is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection. The back side of the circular box contains the following information:
The imperial court of the Son of Heaven, the Emperor of China, is a thing of the past, but a mass of beautiful court robes from the last dynasty survive to give us a hint of its glories. The Ch'ing dynasty, founded by the Manchus, dated from 1644 to 1912. These steppe people were related to the Mongols, invaders of China in the fourteenth century and founders of the Yüan dynasty. Like the Mongols, the Manchus were horse-riding nomads, and their many surviving robes for both men and women are based in cut on the long riding coats which they wore centuries before arriving in China.
A special group of robes for court appearances and other solemn ceremonial functions were among those stipulated by The Institutions of the Ch'ing Dynasty in details of decoration, color and fabric, according to the season in which they were to be worn and to the rank of the wearer. These are known to us - and indeed were so called by the Chinese - as dragon robes, because their dominant feature is a prescribed arrangement of the dragon. This marvelous creature, of many aspects and incarnations, was evolved by the Chinese early in their history as the embodiment of the cosmic force of the universe, at home in all of the three great elements of water, earth and air. In the Ming and Ch'ing periods, the five-clawed dragon symbolized the Emperor and could be worn only by the Emperor and his ladies, or by the first-degree prince and his ladies.
Spaced over the body of the robe, a prescribed number of dragons among clouds top a wave-border which is set at back and front and at the sides with stylized mountains or rocks. In a smaller group of dragon robes, and on the formal coats which cover the robes on certain occasions, roundels containing this universe in microcosm are symmetrically spaced on front, back and shoulders. It also figures above the border on either side both in back and in front. In each of these roundels, a single dragon surrounded by clouds appears over a mountain or rock set in waves.
The roundel we have here with its frontal five-clawed dragon is a detail from either the chest or back of such a robe of from its matching coat. The dragon is couched in gold-wrapped threads on the silk warp twill ground, and his universe is embroidered in polychrome silk flosses. The so-called flaming pearl around which he coils is the conventional plaything of the dragon; sometimes he pursues it, sometimes he captures it. It has been explained as a symbol of the full moon which in the past rose near the constellation of the Dragon of Spring. It may also have associations with the wish-fulfilling jewel of the Indian serpent-princes (nagas) who were identified in popular lore with the Chinese rain dragons. In either case, it is as auspicious a symbol as the dragon itself.
-Jean Mailey, Associate Curator, Textile Study, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Completed in 3 hr., 12 mins. with no box reference. Actual number of pieces: 503. 21.8 secs./piece; 164.9 pcs./hr. Difficulty rating: 2.2/10.
500 piece puzzle, "Five-Clawed Dragon," Springbok Editions, USA.
Here's a quick puzzle I bought recently used but unconfirmed on eBay. I'm pleased to find that it's in perfect condition and all there, a much better experience than the Jaymar version of the same image that I built last year.
I've said it before but will say it again: Springboks from the 1960s are among the finest quality jigsaw puzzles ever made, and this 1967 example is no different: exquisitely printed, elegantly packaged, flawlessly manufactured, and always a bit more challenging than one might expect. Like early Ravensburger puzzles, they can withstand repeated use and still look virtually brand new. These days vintage Springboks are highly sought after collector's items, sometimes fetching eye-raising sums on various online auctions. I have been slowly accumulating more and more gems from this era, when good deals come up on eBay and elsewhere.
The full title of the puzzle is "Five-Clawed Dragon: Embroidered Roundel from an Imperial Robe," which is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection. The back side of the circular box contains the following information:
The imperial court of the Son of Heaven, the Emperor of China, is a thing of the past, but a mass of beautiful court robes from the last dynasty survive to give us a hint of its glories. The Ch'ing dynasty, founded by the Manchus, dated from 1644 to 1912. These steppe people were related to the Mongols, invaders of China in the fourteenth century and founders of the Yüan dynasty. Like the Mongols, the Manchus were horse-riding nomads, and their many surviving robes for both men and women are based in cut on the long riding coats which they wore centuries before arriving in China.
A special group of robes for court appearances and other solemn ceremonial functions were among those stipulated by The Institutions of the Ch'ing Dynasty in details of decoration, color and fabric, according to the season in which they were to be worn and to the rank of the wearer. These are known to us - and indeed were so called by the Chinese - as dragon robes, because their dominant feature is a prescribed arrangement of the dragon. This marvelous creature, of many aspects and incarnations, was evolved by the Chinese early in their history as the embodiment of the cosmic force of the universe, at home in all of the three great elements of water, earth and air. In the Ming and Ch'ing periods, the five-clawed dragon symbolized the Emperor and could be worn only by the Emperor and his ladies, or by the first-degree prince and his ladies.
Spaced over the body of the robe, a prescribed number of dragons among clouds top a wave-border which is set at back and front and at the sides with stylized mountains or rocks. In a smaller group of dragon robes, and on the formal coats which cover the robes on certain occasions, roundels containing this universe in microcosm are symmetrically spaced on front, back and shoulders. It also figures above the border on either side both in back and in front. In each of these roundels, a single dragon surrounded by clouds appears over a mountain or rock set in waves.
The roundel we have here with its frontal five-clawed dragon is a detail from either the chest or back of such a robe of from its matching coat. The dragon is couched in gold-wrapped threads on the silk warp twill ground, and his universe is embroidered in polychrome silk flosses. The so-called flaming pearl around which he coils is the conventional plaything of the dragon; sometimes he pursues it, sometimes he captures it. It has been explained as a symbol of the full moon which in the past rose near the constellation of the Dragon of Spring. It may also have associations with the wish-fulfilling jewel of the Indian serpent-princes (nagas) who were identified in popular lore with the Chinese rain dragons. In either case, it is as auspicious a symbol as the dragon itself.
-Jean Mailey, Associate Curator, Textile Study, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Completed in 3 hr., 12 mins. with no box reference. Actual number of pieces: 503. 21.8 secs./piece; 164.9 pcs./hr. Difficulty rating: 2.2/10.