This 2016, Royal Selangor welcomes the Year of the Monkey with a collection that features the ninth animal in the Chinese Zodiac. In Mandarin Chinese, the characters for monkey and high official are two words that have the same sound but different meaning, which associate the Chinese Zodiac animal with good fortune, prosperity and honour in Chinese culture.
The combination of the monkey and the peach was inspired by the clever, ambitious Monkey King who was granted immortality after stealing the heavenly peaches that belonged to the Queen Mother of the West, which is a memorable scene from a Chinese literary classic called Journey to the West. Longevity, prosperity and abundance is what the peach fruit and blossom represent.
What makes the collection a one-of-a-kind edition is that the Year of the Monkey plaque is the fact that it only has 1,000 pieces up for grabs worldwide. The plaque features three monkeys that form the shape of a peach with an engraved lyrical chinese poem that alludes to joyful reunions in spring. Each monkey has a large peach in its paw as it is surrounded by delicate peach blossoms. The pewter monkeys are embellished in 24K gold, while the plaque comes in a dark Nyatoh wood frame.
As for the figurine from the collection, it features a contemporary modern perception of a traditional sculptural arrangement prevalent in Imperial China, which is of the monkey riding a horse. The figure translates the Chinese expresion ma shang feng hou, which means auspicious wishes for future career or business success. The pewter monkey is mounted on top of a horse sculpture made from bonded porcelain.
Completing the collection is a set of gold plated pewter monkey chopstick rests. As with the other items in this collection, the set makes a great gift for Chinese New Year.
View the Year of the Monkey collection at any Royal Selangor retail store, authorised dealer and online at royalselangor.com.
