Typha and Cloisonné Vase

Typha is common on both banks of the Spree. During summer time they start to bloom. The dark-flowered pistons are quite attractive. Because of the special shape of the flower tip Chinese call them “water candle”.

Recently I got a cloisonné vase and parts of the ornament show Typha and Nelumbo (Lotus). There are also some circles on the spikes to see – should that be possibly pollen?

Some species of Typha pollen present as a single grain. Maybe these are the pollen from the perspective of the ancient Chinese. But the pollen I collected from Spree, as you can see, they are tetrads.

If we e.g. look up in the “Pollen Flora of China”, we see that Typha latifolia possesses tetrad pollen. If we find individual pollen grains, it could be a different species, e.g. Typha angustifolia.

Back to the cloisonné vase – here the lotus leaves, the lotus flowers, the Typha flowers, the Typha leaves and the arrow-like green leaves of Sagittaria were painted as a kind of bouquet of flowers. There are two herons in the water. One is swimming forward, the other is standing and looking back. This may have symbolic Chinese meanings, it could be good wishes ‘Yi Lu Lian Ke’ and ‘Yi Shu Qing Lian’ for Chinese scholars to get high marks in the imperial examinations and then higher positions in the officialdom.