Li Mama
李嬷嬷
“Nannie Li”
Her Story
Baoyu’s wet-nurse, and the household’s standing argument about what an old servant is owed. In Chapter 8 she drinks the maple-dew tea he has been saving; he smashes the cup and drives out the maid Qianxue instead. In Chapter 19 she eats the koumiss put by for Xiren. In Chapter 20 she stands in his rooms and rails at Xiren until Xifeng takes her by the arm and walks her out. After that the book lets her go.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Both sheets give her a cup. In one she is upright, head flung back, mouth open on bare gums, hoisting a celadon cup behind her shoulder. In the other she sits under hanging willow, olive robe with blue cloud-roundels, raising the same pale bowl in both hands, eyes already shut.
The Calligraphy
The inscription 李嬷嬷 gives her surname and the title for a nurse and no personal name at all — she is addressed by her function to the end.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — the child she nursed, whose tea and koumiss she takes.
- Xiren 袭人 — the maid she rails at, and whose food she eats.
- Li Gui 李贵 — her son, Baoyu’s foster-brother and head of his escort.
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — leads her out of Baoyu’s rooms without a quarrel.
Others of the same kind · nurse / wet-nurse Wang Mama 王嬷嬷 · Zhao Mama 赵嬷嬷 · Song Mama 宋嬷嬷
Named on these pages Qianxue 茜雪 · Li Gui 李贵
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
