Page 372 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

ii8 CHINESE ART.

to have been generally similar to those of the sculptured bas-reliefs
figured in Chapter II. The Life of Confucius, ascribed to one of his
disciples, describes a visit of the sage in the year B.C. 517 to the
palace of Ching Wang of the Chou dynasty at Loyang. It relates
how he saw, on the walls of the hall of audience, portraits of the
ancient emperors Yao and Shun, and the figures of the tyrants Chou
and Chieh,the last degenerate rulers of the Chou and Shang dynasties,
distinguished by their virtuous and evil characteristics and labelled
with appropriate words of praise or blame. On the south side
of the screen behind the throne the Duke of Chou was depicted
sitting with his infant nephew, the King Ch'eng, upon his knees,
giving audience to the feudal princes (cf. Vol. I., Fig. 5). Confucius
surveyed it all, we are told, with silent delight, and then turning to
his followers said :
" Here you see how the house of Chou became so great. As we use a bronze
mirror to reflect a present scene, so antiquity may be pictured as a lesson for
posterity."
Among the motives of these early times we find the tiger and
dragon already in full evidence. The tiger was painted on the
screen of masonry before the door of the magistrate's hall to strike
beholders, we are told, with awe , and we meet in the ancient odes
(Skill Ching, I., .\i., 3) with a pair of shields emblazoned with
dragons set up in the front of the war chariot, to protect the riders
from the missiles and arrows of the enemy. The phceni.x followed
later, being first figured as a colossal eagle carrying large animals in
its formidable claws, like the Greek gryphon, the Indian garuda, or
the Persian rtikh, to be later endowed with peacock's plumes and
become the typical fcng-lmang, the peculiar badge of the Empress
of China.
Architectiual drawing was not neglected, as it is recorded in the
Shih Chi, in the biography of Ch'in Shih Huang (b.C. 221-210), that
"
the first universal emperor," when he overthrew the feudal princes
in rapid succession, had drawings of all their palaces made, in order