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Special Exhibition

THE ART OF LIFE: Depictions and Meanings of Animals in Chinese Painting & Calligraphy

Animals are humanity's closest companions on planet earth. Whether we look to ancient legends or examine the contemporary world, animals can be found playing different roles in every aspect of human life. All along, animals have accompanied the development of human civilization.

Animals appear with great regularity in works of calligraphy, painting, and literature, often portrayed in the most marvelous ways. Ancient and modern artists in the Sinosphere and beyond have long used both realistic depictions as well as impressionistic flights of their imaginations to express humanity’s thoughts and feelings about animals. Countless fantastic artworks have been created around the theme of animals. These works evocatively render a tremendous variety of imagery, and they often leave viewers with incisive, thought-provoking insights.

We cordially invite you to enjoy this exhibition's animal-centric works of calligraphy and painting. We hope that visitors will explore the artworks’ rich imagery and plumb the depths of their underlying aesthetics.

Exhibition Information

Event Date 2025-01-14~2025-04-13
Location 2F S203

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Liu Qindan, Tang dynasty

Venerable Fawan Stele

The stele from which this rubbing was taken, erected in the year 709, records the biography and virtuous deeds of the Buddhist nun Fawan (640-688). The stele’s text, which is rich in Buddhist literary flourishes, draws extensively upon animal-related imagery. Terms like “Crane Forest” and “Deer Park” refer to places where Shakyamuni Buddha (ca. 6th century BCE) once set foot. “A colt rushing past the mouth of a cave” and “the black mouse of night and white mouse of day” are metaphors for the fleetingness of time. Finally, “her shadow could tame doves” and “her Dharmic accomplishments soared as high as dragons” extolled the profundity of Fawan’s Buddhist cultivation. The entire inscription was written in regular script (kaishu) in a dashing, graceful style that is somewhat reminiscent of the calligraphy on the “Universal Compassion Monastery Stele.”

Dong Qichang, Ming dynasty

Poem with Four Characters per Line

In Taoism, white cranes appear as mounts ridden by Taoist immortals, or else as shape-shifted forms of the immortals themselves. This is why a Taoist monastery established during the Tang dynasty at the base of Five Elder Peaks on Mount Lu was named after a white crane. In 1083, Su Shi (1037-1101) visited the ruins of White Crane Monastery, where he saw a game of go and thereupon wrote a poem entitled “Observing a Game of Go,” which has been widely appreciated for centuries. This rendition of the poem was written by Dong Qichang (1555-1636) in running script (xingshu) with robust, rounded lines, confidently easygoing brushwork, and an unaffected, natural sense of composition. A true masterpiece, this calligraphic work scintillates just as much as the poem it renders.

Lü Shiyi, Qing dynasty

Antithetical Couplet in Clerical Script with Five Characters per Line

Lü Shiyi (1784-1855), who had the sobriquet Xicun (“Western Village”), so excelled at seal and clerical script calligraphy that he earned the moniker “the doyen of bronze and stone inscription studies in Taiwan.” This couplet, written in 1850, employs dragons and cranes as symbols for magnanimous intentions and vast talent. Concision and precision mark the linework and individual character structures, which also have an intriguing sense of geometric flourish. Stylistically, the calligraphy is close to that of Yi Bingshou (1754-1815). Four lines of signatures and dedications are interspersed throughout the couplet, in a compositional style reminiscent of Zheng Xie’s (1693-1766) particular flair.

Attributed to Han Gan, Tang dynasty

Monkeys and Horses

This painting depicts three monkeys frolicking among boulders and treetops, while beneath them cavort a black and white pair of powerful horses. This arrangement is a sophisticated visual pun—in Chinese, the term “crazy monkeys above horses” rhymes perfectly with “an aristocratic title is just around the corner.” The painting techniques used to portray this painting’s subjects are close those found in three other works in the NPM’s collections: “Liu Songnian’s Painting of Arhats,” “Han Gan’s Horse Herder,” and “Huang Jucai’s Pheasant and Thorny Shrubs.” Yet, although this painting is richly evocative of ancient works, the brushwork is still uneven. This is especially evident with the boulder and barren branches in the middle ground, which lack volume and layering, and instead tend towards flatness. This is not the work of Han Gan, to whom the painting was traditionally attributed; it might be a copy of a Song dynasty painting made during the Ming dynasty.

Attributed to Li Di, Song dynasty

Flowers and Birds

This painting is dominated by a wide variety of flowers blooming in full glory, while amid the blossoms are a number of birds. The painting features complex, ornate composition and splendid coloration. Filled with exquisite detail, it gives off an aura of affluence and sophistication, perhaps derived from the elaborate floral paintings that traditionally festooned the halls of palaces in the Southern Tang dynasty. From the use of the “moss spots” painting technique, it can be surmised that this piece might date to the middle or late Ming dynasty. Previously attributed to Li Di (ca. late 12th century), this work’s true creator is unknown. The solitary pigeon appearing in this painting has lustrous, immaculate plumage and exudes an almost haughty spirit; perhaps it alludes to the Buddhist use of pigeons as symbols for vain, arrogant individuals. But it may have another meaning altogether—the question remains open.

Lang Shining (Giuseppe Castiglioni), Qing dynasty

White Raptor

Lang Shining (born Giuseppe Castiglioni, 1688-1766) was an Italian Jesuit missionary who achieved fame after 1715 for his work as a Qing dynasty court painter. This painting depicts a white gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) that was given to the Qing emperor by a Mongolian prince. The work features pronounced senses of perspective, light and shadow, and three-dimensionality. The gyrfalcon is painted with extraordinary realism, its gaze penetrating, and its body tensed as though it is on the verge of launching into flight. There is a poem written by the emperor in the upper left side of the painting that extols the gyrfalcon as being symbolic of “preciousness,” “heroism,” and “exemplariness.” The poem also sympathizes with the bird for being tied down and reflects on animals’ natural inclination to seek freedom.