Page 103 - Sotheby's May 10th 2017 London Animal Menagerie, Chinese Art

Among the animals associated with Buddhism, the lion is one of the most commonly
portrayed. Lions were not indigenous to China, but were imported as exotic gifts for the Han
(206 BC- AD 220) and Tang (618-907) courts. According to the Tang shu [Book of Tang]
compiled in the Song dynasty, Emperor Taizong (628-649) received a lion from Samarkand
in 635, and was so impressed by its appearance that he asked his secretary, Yu Shinan (558-
638), to compose a poem about lions, part of which may be translated as follows:

It glares its eyes – and lightening flashes,
It vents its voice – and thunder echoes.
The symbolism associated with the lion developed with the introduction and spread
of Buddhism in China after the fall of the Han dynasty. In Buddhist sculptures and
paintings a pair of lions was commonly depicted on the sides of the Buddha’s throne.
Lions are considered the guardians of the Buddhist law, hence they are often placed
outside Buddhist temples and inside tombs. Lions are also often portrayed with Manjusri,
the bodhisattva of wisdom.
In the Qing dynasty the lion acquired further symbolism: on rank badges it describedmilitary
officials of the first and second rank, while images of nine lions form the auspicious
pun jiu shi tong ju (May nine generations live together), as the character for lion, shi, is
homophonous with that for ‘generation’.

(Le ) Anonymous, Taoist Sages Crossing the Sea, ink on silk, handscroll, Ming or Qing dynasty.
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.