Water

The Lost Sword (front of stamp booklet)

It was a stormy day in the flood season and a man from the state of Chu

The Lost Sword (frontispiece of booklet)

wanted to cross a river

1981: The Lost Sword (Design - Pan Keming)

but the water was a raging torrent.

As he crossed the river

the boat was tossed on the waves and his sword slipped from his hand.  He loved the sword.

Then he had a brainwave and made a mark on the side (gunwale) where he had dropped the sword. He said to his puzzled companion "I have made a mark here to remind  me where my sword fell in the water. Later I will be able to retrieve my sword by the location of the mark"

reverse of  stamp booklet

This ancient fable gives rise to the Chinese idiom of  'Finding a Lost Sword'. The moral of the fable is one must take into consideration changes in circumstances and adapt to change. Don't isolate yourself from reality or adhere to fixed rules and patterns.  The story is sometimes called Marking the Gunwale. The artist is Pam Keming (b1940) who has said that she enjoys making art from philosophical ideas.

My local river in winter - the Duddon,

Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is - Water - join the flow at See It on A Postcard.

  

Jesters

1968: Polish Paintings

The court jester Stańczyk lived at the time of the 16th Century Polish Renaissance and here he is attending Queen Bona's ball (seen in the background), but all is not well for he has discovered a letter and the news of the loss of Smolensk to Russia.  The artist, Jan Matejko (1838-1897) was a painter of the history of Poland and this is one of his most famous paintings, a popular exhibit in the National Museum, Warsaw.

2011: 500th anniversary of the Till Eulenspiegel Stories (Design - Henning Wagenbreth)

 A more upbeat Joker, Till Eulenspiegel, a peasant trickster playing pranks and jokes and driving people mad by taking their words literally. The stupid but cunning peasant always outfoxes the narrow dishonesty of townsmen, clergy and nobility. His name translates as 'Owl mirror' and like the original book of his adventures the stamp shows him with both. The stamp illustrates the various objects from his pranks and is designed by the Berlin illustrator Henning Wagenbreth

1991: Greeting Stamps 'Smiles' Reissued as 1st Class postage (Design - Michel Peters and Partners)

 Its Mr Punch so we know that mayhem is just around the corner, as it is with the other smiling face of Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy fame.  These greeting stamps were issued in booklets of ten on various subjects  but sadly they haven't done them for years

1991: Folded Stamp Booklet Number 1 of 4 - 150th Anniversary Punch Magazine

and of course the illustrated cardboard covered vending machine stamp booklets have long gone too.  This was the first of a set of 4 booklets issued in 1991 for the 150th anniversary of the satirical and humorous magazine Punch featuring Punch on the cover as drawn by Richard Doyle and on the back a Gerard Hoffnung cartoon.

1985: Austrian Modern Art (Paul Flora)

I'll finish with high japes and the brightly clothed Harlequin as imagined by the prolific Austrian Tyrol illustrator and cartoonist Paul Flora (1922-2009) on the 'Carnival Figures' maximum card.

The 'Clowns Riding High Bicycles' with a postmark showing off nicely those delicate peddling pointy feet.

1985 (Artist - Paul Flora; Engraver - Wolfgang Seidel)

but for the full colourful effect and their red noses here is the stamp alone. The country name is raised and tactile on the stamp which akes me imagine Paul Flora sitting at his drawing board putting the finishing touch to the stamp with a nice scratchy pen nib.

The Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is the letter J - for Jan and  Jester, I'll try to resist jape and joking, oh no I haven't - See It On A Postcard