The chrysanthemum besides is associated with its admirer T’ao Yüan-ming, and the lotus with Chou Mao-shu and the poet Li T’ai-po. But as a rule the floral designs carry some hidden meaning, the flowers being grouped so as to suggest some felicitous phrase by a play on their names.[513] The peony we have seen to be the _fu kuei_ (riches and honours) flower; the chrysanthemum, as Dr. Laufer has suggested, being the flower of the ninth (_chiu_) month, may connote longevity through the word _chiu_ (long-enduring); the prunus (_mei hua_) carries the obvious suggestion of _mei_ (beautiful), and instances might easily be multiplied. Among the trees, the cassia suggests literary honours, the willow longevity, as also the pine, bamboo and plum, who are called the “three friends,”[514] faithful even in the “winter of our discontent.” Among the fruits the gourd is an emblem both of long life and of fertility, and the three fruits (_san kuo_)--peach, pomegranate and finger citron--symbolise the Three Abundances of Years, Sons and Happiness. The orange is a symbol of good luck, and no doubt the others which occur less frequently contain similar suggestions. Landscape (_shan shui_) is one of the four main divisions of Chinese pictorial art, and it is well represented in porcelain decoration. The Sung and Ming masters provided designs which were freely copied, and views of the beauty spots of China and of the celebrated parks and pleasure grounds were frequently used. It is one of these landscapes which the English potters borrowed for the familiar “willow pattern” design, and the sentimental tale which some fanciful writer has attached to the pattern is a mere afterthought. Figure subjects and landscapes are combined in many designs, such as the meeting of sages, romantic incidents, besides the more homely motives of field work, fishing, rustics returning from the plough mounted on their oxen, and the like. The four seasons, too, are represented in landscape with appropriate accessories, such as blossoming peach trees in a mountain scene for spring, a lake scene with lotus gatherers for summer, a swollen river and autumn tints for autumn, and a snowstorm for winter. A great variety of symbols and emblematical devices appear in the porcelain decoration of all periods, whether interwoven with the designs, grouped in panels, or placed under the base in lieu of a mark. Bushell[515] classifies the most familiar of them under the following headings:-- 1. Symbols of Ancient Chinese Lore: _Pa-kua_ and _Yin-yang_ (see p. 290); _Pa yin_ (eight musical instruments); _Shih êrh chang_ (twelve ornaments embroidered upon sacrificial robes). 2. Buddhist symbols: _Pa chi hsiang_ (eight emblems of happy augury). _Ch’i pao_ (seven paraphernalia of the _chakravartin_ or universal sovereign). 3. Taoist symbols: _Pa an hsien_ (attributes of the Eight Immortals). 4. The Hundred Antiques (_Po ku_). _Pa pao_ (the Eight Precious Objects).