Page 123 - Sotheby's May 10th 2017 London Animal Menagerie, Chinese Art

A distinct characteristic of images of animals, birds, insects and fish in China is their association to
philosophical, metaphorical and historical concepts. They were often depicted in the same poses and
situations in accordance to the set of beliefs they were associated with. As these evolved over time, the
contexts in which animals appeared and their meaning similarly evolved. For example, the deer is a
Daoist symbol of longevity, the companion of the Daoist god Shou Lao and considered to be the only
animal able to forage the fungus of immortality. In paintings and stone carvings, deer often appear
in desolate mountainous landscape either as companions of Shou Lao or searching for the fungus of
immortality. In popular culture deer also came to represent filial piety through the well-known story
of Zhou Yan zi, who is commonly portrayed wearing deer skin. In the Ming and Qing dynasty the
Hundred Deer motif began to appear on paintings and porcelains as a portrayal of royal hunting parks.

The monkey is another animal whose symbolic meanings greatly enriched over time. Monkeys are
associated to Daoist practitioners who have difficulty concentrating, as they are said to have ‘the
mind of a gibbon and thoughts of a horse’ (xinyuan yima). This link deepened in the Ming dynasty
due to the famous 16th century novel Xiyouji [ Journey to the West], which tells the story of the
monkey king Su Wukong who steals the peaches of immortality during a party given by the Queen
Mother of the West. Thus carvings of monkeys holding a peach, such as lot 92, became popular
following its publication. Monkeys are also associated with success as they are homophonous with
the word for marquis, hou. An image of a monkey with a bag forms the pun daidai fenghou (May
every generation be given the title of marquis), while with deer and wasps the pun juelu fenghou (May
you receive high rank and emolument) is created.

It is interesting to note that a number of animals and insects often depicted in paintings and
carvings have auspicious connotations only in China. For example, bats are associated with
happiness as the character for bat in Chinese fu, has the same pronunciation as that for happiness.
An image of a bat with peaches embodies the wish for long life and happiness (fu shou shuang
quan), while that of five bats creates the pun wu fu (Five Blessings), which are health, long life,
riches, love of virtue and death by natural causes. Spiders and badgers are connected with good
fortune and happiness respectively.

(Le ) Anonymous, Gibbons and deer, ink and colour on silk, album leaf, Southern Song dynasty, 13th century
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York