猴子献桃Monkey Offering a Peach

A small fabric picture on crinkled pink paper. A blue monkey sits facing us, its gourd-shaped body cut from satin over padding so that it swells from the surface, the cloth dyed from deep blue at the edges to pale sky blue at the center. Above the face, orange and pink disks overlap, each set with a dark green half-moon; the pale green face has a green dot and a red one, a smile of narrow red cloth and a dot on each cheek. The ears are pink lined with yellow. A long tapering curve rises behind the right shoulder above the head, and at the left two round blue pieces carry spirals of black and gray cloth. In its lap is a peach blushing from pink to white under a dark green leaf veined in gold thread, with two leaves spreading below.

Hou, monkey, sounds like the word for a noble rank, and the peach is the fruit of long life: together they wish honor and longevity. The picture has no title; this one describes it.

此为布艺贴画，以粉色皱纸为地。灵猴一只端坐画中，身作葫芦之形，以蓝缎裁成，内衬棉絮，饱满隆起；缎色经染，周缘宝蓝，向内渐化为天青，宛若晕染。额上橙、粉圆片交叠，各嵌墨绿半月；面盘浅绿渐白，点绿、朱小圆两粒，朱红细条弯作笑口，两颊各缀圆点，憨态可掬。双耳粉红，内衬鹅黄。右侧一弯尖梢自身后扬起，高出头顶；身左叠蓝布圆片两枚，黑、灰布条盘作旋纹。怀中寿桃一枚，粉白渐变，上覆深绿叶片，金线勾脉，桃下绿叶两片左右舒展。

猴谐“侯”，寓封侯晋爵；桃为仙果，主长寿。灵猴捧桃，福寿兼祈。此作未题画名，题目依画意拟定。