Blue Willow Pattern

 


Many of us have fond memories of our grandmother's blue willow pattern dishes and large platters used for the Sunday Roast and Christmas Turkey. As a nod to the memory of my Irish grandmother, this piece sits on my Chicago dining room table and I think of her when I walk by it.

There are many stories and myths behind the images of the blue willow. The most famous one is based on a Japanese fairy tale "The Green Willow" originating in China that tells the story of two lovers separated and envied by gods for their love. The lovers can only meet once a year when the stars align. 

In 1849, "The Story of the Common Willow Pattern Plate" was published in an English magazine, it goes as follows: Once there was a wealthy Mandarin, who had a beautiful daughter (Koong-se). She had fallen in love with her father's humble accounting assistant (Chang), angering her father. (It was inappropriate for them to marry due to their difference in social class.) He dismissed the young man and built a high fence around his house to keep the lovers apart. The Mandarin was planning for his daughter to marry a powerful Duke. The Duke arrived by boat to claim his bride, bearing a box of jewels as a gift. The wedding was to take place on the day the blossom fell from the willow tree. On the eve of the daughter's wedding to the Duke, the young accountant, disguised as a servant, slipped into the palace unnoticed. As the lovers escaped with the jewels, the alarm was raised. They ran over a bridge, chased by the Mandarin, whip in hand. They eventually escaped on the Duke's ship to the safety of a secluded island, where they lived happily for years. But one day, the Duke learned of their refuge. Hungry for revenge, he sent soldiers, who captured the lovers and put them to death. The gods, moved by their plight, transformed the lovers into a pair of doves.

The story of the willow pattern was turned into a comic opera in 1901 called The Willow Pattern. It was also told in a 1914 silent film called Story of the Willow Pattern. Robert van Gulik also used some of the idea in his Chinese detective novel The Willow Pattern. In 1992, Barry Purves made a short animated film relating the story. 

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