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Hi,

Bill and Rat please put on your glasses - Please can you help translate faded calligraphy?

Appreciated
JJ

While apologizing for what may sound like petulance, I'll state for the record that literal translation of disembodied Chinese characters enlightens the rest of us about fine points of Chinese antiques, art and culture about as much as watching endless reruns of Charlie Chan movies on cable TV. To quote my Chinese teacher on translation, it all rests on context, context, context!

I feel better already, with that off my chest.

The top photo shows two characters, which when flipped 90-degrees right to the proper reading position appear to read in Mandarin as 'Ding' (a surname) 'Zhai' (a private residence). This could mean 'the Ding residence' unless the wood comes from a coffin, in which case the understood adjective 'eternal' should be inserted before 'residence' to provide proper context.

The other picture shows the surname 'Zhang' at the left. What's at the right is anyone's guess due to the fragmentation. My guess would be 'Jian' (to build or erect).

Good luck,

Bill H.

I agree with Bill H.: people who crop what they have down to a couple of characters and ask "tell me what this says, who painted it, and how much it's worth" are just not going to get decent answers without providing the context that an overall assessment of the object can allow for.

first photo is 90 degrees on its left side and reads "ding zhai", but the two characters by themselves suggest no translation as aren't really related. "ding" can mean a number of things, including a surname or the number 4/fourth; "zhai" refers to a dwelling or a roof. should not be a name though. second photo has "zhang" on the left, a common surname among other things, but I can't make out the character at the right. calligraphy seems nice for a label.

Bill, I smile at your dry humour and everytime I read one of your responses I cant help but think about the comment you once made about calligraphy on a dirt bin "...from the inside or outside....."

To both you and Rat a big thank you for the translation - it is also good to get a concurrent response.

Context: your translation makes sense as it is calligraphy applied to the under-side of a Qing Dynasty Table, as few pieces of Chinese furniture are marked it helps a lot.

Thanks to both again, much appreciated.... and this is not the last Charlie Chan movie in my archive :-)

Best
JJ

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