Porcelain vase decorated in the famille rose style with Zhong Kui and his demons repelling the "five venoms", China, 19th century In scroll form, decorated with Zhong Kui surrounded by spirits chasing the five venomous animals. One of his demon soldiers holds his sword, another plants a trident in a toad, a third wears a flowery hat and carries a vase from which emerge long, leafy herbs and branches. Two others face each other, one firmly holding a trident to which are attached the venomous animals already killed (snake, winged centipede, scorpion, gecko). The collar is adorned with movable and scholar's objects: brush pot, perfume burner, books, scholar's rock and lingzhi mushrooms. A frieze of light-blue foliage on a pink background, alternating with reserves of small chrysanthemums, joins the neck to the body. Height: 35.5 cm In Chinese folklore, scorpions, snakes, toads, geckos and centipedes come out in May to harm humans, who have been trying for centuries to keep them at bay with herbs, clothes and paper amulets. In the lunar calendar, May is known as "Poison Month", as it is the month when temperatures rise, rainfall is more abundant and venomous parasites begin to breed. The custom of the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, is to "repel the five venoms". Some families hung up posters depicting Zhong Kui, the exorcist of Chinese folk tales, holding a sword and killing the five venomous parasites.