Sunday 11 February 2018

Year of the Dog

1982: Year of the Dog (Designer - Zhou Linzhao; Engraver - Gao Pinzhang)
The graphic designer and artist Zhou Linzhao was influenced by the designs of Chinese ethnic groups for his Year of the Dog stamp in 1982. This year at the grand old age of 99 his thoughts went back to his childhood in  Hunan and their family dog which inspired the two stamps he has designed for 2018 and can be seen here
2017: Chinese New Year Greetings 2018 (Designer - Martin Mörck)
Åland Post takes us back to the 19th Century with their miniature sheet contribution to the Lunar New Year celebrations.  The two porcelain spaniels were made in England in the potteries of Staffordshire
and in the 19th century no fireplace was complete without these two companions on the mantelpiece or kerb. There were many porcelain breeds of dog although the spaniel was the most popular, perhaps because unlike our present queen who has a love of corgis Queen Victoria's favourite was the King Charles spaniel.  Their popularity also spread to the Åland Islands and other parts of Scandinavia when sailors brought them home as souvenirs and these two now reside in  Åland's Maritime Museum.  One may also spot Staffordshire or china dogs in any museum recreation of a Victorian home. They were hand painted so no two are the same.



Sunday Stamps II theme - New Year - time for walkies at See It On A Postcard   
 

7 comments:

violet s said...

I am solidly in team cat, rather than team dog, but King Charles Spaniels are cute.

FinnBadger said...

Nice dogs today, but I haver to admit my eye is drawn to the tiger mascots on the South Korea Winter Olympics stamp on your blog header :)

viridian said...

I like your blog header stamp too!!!

Mail Adventures said...

Åland's designs is very original.

Bob Scotney said...

Head and tailed these Year of the Dog stamps with the Korean stamp and that lovely drawing (?) of a dog.

Heleen said...

Thank you for sharing information about who designed the stamp - I think this always hard to find.
I like the present CHinese Year of the Dog stamp, but the one from 1982 is an interesting one, too (and I love the blue/turquoise background :-) ).

Maria said...

Thank you for sharing that dog stamp from 1982! What an original design.