Chinese Wood Commemorative Sign

Four big characters, each as soft and fat as a cloud.

This commemorative sign comes from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 19th century. It is elm wood. Carved boards of this kind honored achievement, virtue or a good name in Chinese society, and were hung in halls or over doorways where visitors could not miss the point. The characters stand in rounded relief across planks of honey-colored wood, with a broad molded frame darkening at the edges. Light catches the surface unevenly. Seventy-five inches long and thirty-eight high.

Someone was very pleased with someone else.