The Chen Family Residence located on a remote island associates with the world.

See the facade on the entrance side of the Chen Family Residence. It piled up basalt and was designed with a occidental style called as tbe Baroque style. The colorful tiles that decorate part of the walls are Japanese majolica tiles. The "fish" on the railing is said to be a symbol of prosperity because its sound is the same as that of other letter, which means that there is plenty of money. ”Jar” and ”clock” means the prosperity of the family.

The Chen Family Residence was completed in 1912 by the Chen brothers in their hometown of Erkan Village. They were successful in the herbal medicine business in Mainland Taiwan.

It has a traditional Chinese Siheyuan-style floor plan, and four buildings surround a courtyard. At first, they built a residence in Sanheyuan-style that three buildings surrounded a courtyard. Three years later, an entrance hall building was added and became Siheyuan-style, which belonged to an upper class from Sanheyuan. Moreover, as the result of another courtyard's addition, double Siheyuans appeared and expanded to the back. In Erkan, I didn't see any other double Siheyuan-style house, so the Chen family's residence was exceptional.

The finish of most of Erkan's houses was traditional white wall painted on piled-up coral stone. Meanwhile, the front of Chen Family residence was blocks of more expensive local basalt, and its design was a Western-style called the Baroque style, which was popular in Taiwan at the time. The Baroque style came not directly from Europe but via Japan which colonized Taiwan. The gorgeous floor and wall tiles were Japanese majolica tiles, which were produced in Japan, based on European-origin Victorian tiles. The tiles were exported to the world, and gained popularity. Even in Japan, the tiles are still seen in private houses of that era, but the ones produced for Taiwan were more vividly colored than those for Japan and featured Chinese patterns. Moreover, the details of the Chen Family Residence were full of auspicious patterns of Chinese civilization.

The Chen Family Residence was designed with traditional Chinese floor plans and auspicious patterns, and a Western design with a Japanese interpretation. It was located on a remote island. However, it was in a sense global architecture that China, Taiwan, Japan, and Europe encountered and merged.

See the first courtyard beyond the entrance. Both ends under the eaves of the building in front are decorated with pots, which has the meaning of amulets in the Penghu Islands.
See the second courtyard. Pots are decorated under the eaves. On the waist wall, Japanese majolica tiles are attached. Its motif is probably "plum blossoms." The plum blossoms that bloom first in the harsh cold of spring are a symbol of auspiciousness.
See the room between courtyards. The left side is the first courtyard, the right side is the second courtyard. The red object hanging on the door on the left is a 13-sided solid. In Taoism, the Big Dipper governs death, the South Dipper governs life, and 13, which is the sum of the numbers of these stars, means life and death.
See the inside of the innermost building behind the second courtyard. Behind the opening on the left is the main room where ancestors are enshrined.
From the innermost main room, the outside is seen through the two courtyards and the entrance.
See the detail of Japanese majolica tiles decorated on the facade of the entrance.
See the detail of Japanese majolica tiles attached on the wall.
See the detail of the lattice window of the main room. "Bamboo" is a symbol of sincerity and eternity, and "deer" in the picture below the window is a symbol of longevity.
See the Chen Family Residence from afar.

Click here for your impressions

reference
台湾ナビ
Penghu Info
陳氏大宅案内板
"中国伝統吉祥図案"(黒門,説話社,2009)
"中国の吉祥デザイン―王家大院を中心にして―"(名和又介,言語文化,同志社大学言語文化学会,2008)
"和製マジョリカタイル―憧れの連鎖"(INAXライブミュージアム企画委員会,LIXIL出版,2018)
Wikipedia

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