Most collections of Chinese art will likely have at least one bat-adorned object as they really are ubiquitous motifs the Asian Art Museum’s collection is swarming with the winged mammal.
Qing dynasty gourd-shaped vase decorated with red bats, collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (photo © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco) This connection also contributed to their popularity among common folk.” “They’re almost super-beings from an unexplored world, associated with another mythical realm. “They almost appear to live forever or in the way an immortal might, so there’s a connection to the power of this stillness and remove from society,” Zhang said. “It’s something to look for and something to look forward to.” A bat’s habit of hanging upside down, he added, and staying motionless, also led to it becoming a symbol of longevity. “This association of bats with auspiciousness is related to the poetic idea of the sudden arrival of good fortune - like a bat suddenly flying across your field of vision at dusk,” Zhang told Hyperallergic.
The association has linguistic origins: the pronunciation of “bat” in Chinese (蝠), is “fú” - the same as that of “blessing” (福), and since the characters have not changed much overtime, the connection has endured. According to Fan Zhang, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco‘s senior associate curator of Chinese Art, bat imagery can be traced as far back as the Han dynasty.
