Xiufeng
绣凤
“Third of the Pattern”
Her Story
The third name on the pattern — 彩鸾, 绣鸾, 绣凤 — and a young maid of Grandmother Jia’s apartments. She is named in passing and given no action, and her footing in the text is thin enough that the collection’s own roster marks the identification uncertain. She is a name in a household inventory of girls, and the honest thing is to say so and stop.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Profile, mid-step, a small white cup balanced in her raised right hand. The robe is a mottle of green, blue and rust. Behind her the sheet fills with grey branches flecked turquoise — one of the few here given any setting. She carries the cup and is not the subject.
The Calligraphy
绣凤, on the right, the given name alone — embroidered phoenix, out of the same pattern book as 彩鸾 and 绣鸾, and telling you her rank rather than anything about her.
Connections
- Jia Mu 贾母 — the matriarch of whose apartments she is a junior maid.
- Cailuan 彩鸾 — same naming set, same rank.
- Xiuluan 绣鸾 — same naming set, same rank.
Others of the same kind · maid – Grandmother Jia's apartments Yuanyang 鸳鸯 · Hupo 琥珀 · Feicui 翡翠 · Boli 玻璃 · Zhenzhu 珍珠 · Yingwu 鹦鹉 · Yingge 鹦哥 · Cailuan 彩鸾 · Xiuluan 绣鸾 · Wenguan 文官
Named on these pages Cailuan 彩鸾 · Xiuluan 绣鸾
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
