Boli
玻璃
“A Name Made of Glass”
Her Story
She is one of the maids of Grandmother Jia’s inner rooms, and the novel gives her a name rather than a scene. The girls in that room are named for costly substances — 琥珀 amber, 珍珠 pearl, 翡翠 kingfisher jade, 玻璃 glass — a matched set, ordered like a cabinet of curios. In the Qing house, clear glass was an imported luxury and sat happily beside the jade. She is named among the old lady’s attendants and given nothing to do.
In Xiang Li's Hands
She is given the whole sheet to move in: black jacket over a purple robe flecked gold, a long blue-grey sash lifted in both hands and swung across her body, the skirt breaking into wet black at the hem. No glass, no vessel. The name is not illustrated.
The Calligraphy
玻璃, upper right, two characters and nothing else — no surname and no rank, because a girl named after a substance has neither.
Connections
- Jia Mu 贾母 — the matriarch of Rongguo House, in whose inner rooms she serves.
- Yuanyang 鸳鸯 — the matriarch’s chief maid, who ran the room she worked in.
- Zhenzhu 珍珠 — fellow maid, named on the same principle: another precious thing.
Others of the same kind · maid – Grandmother Jia's apartments Yuanyang 鸳鸯 · Hupo 琥珀 · Feicui 翡翠 · Zhenzhu 珍珠 · Yingwu 鹦鹉 · Yingge 鹦哥 · Cailuan 彩鸾 · Xiuluan 绣鸾 · Xiufeng 绣凤 · Wenguan 文官
Dream of the Red Chamber
Xiang Li painted all 413 characters of the novel between 1975 and 1985, the first person to complete the entire cast. See the whole collection · Chinese Empresses
