Page 429 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

M I N G C H I N A

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PORTRAIT OF THE HONGZHI EMPEROR

i6th-iyth century
Chinese
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
2
5
209.8 x 115 (82 /s x 45 /4)
National Palace Museum, Taipei
To manifest and to consecrate the glory of the
emperor and his reign may be regarded as the
general function of all court art, but this proposi-
tion is nowhere so clear as in formal imperial por-
traits. These present and magnify not so much the
specific individual, although affording some veri-
similitude in facial details (such as the full beard
in the present example), but rather the institution
itself—the eternal throne rather than its tempo-
rary occupant. Symbols and their extended
connotations are thus of more than ordinary
importance and carry much of the intended
meaning of such paintings.
Yellow, the color of the northern loess soil of
the Middle Kingdom, was the actual name of one
of China's most famous legendary rulers and,
from about the sixth century onward, only the
emperor could wear garments of that color. The
dragon, general symbol of fertility and male
vigor, also signified the emperor from the Han
dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) onward, especially
dragons with five claws; nine dragon-filled ron-
dels are visible on the robe here and additional
dragons appear on the three-panel screen which
encloses the Son of Heaven and on the rug be-
neath his throne. Monkeys alternate with tigers
on the cushion which bolsters the ruler and
appear also in vessels depicted just below the waist
of his robe. The very loose and flowing sleeves
bear images of pheasants, which are female sym-
bols and here represent the empress.
A red sun and white moon embellish the shoul-
ders, and paired insignia extend vertically from
waist to hem of the robe; two sacrificial vessels
(one decorated with a monkey, the other with a
tiger), water plant, flames, rice, ax, and a fu pat-
tern (symbolizing the distinction between right
and wrong). Together with the dragons and
pheasants, and with the addition of symbols for
mountains and constellations (not seen on this
robe), these make up a standard group of twelve association with Emperor Shun, an early successor temple vases; take those for the water plant, fire,
imperial insignia that were incorporated into the to the Yellow Emperor: "I wish to view the sym- husked grain, rice, the ax, and the symbol of dis-
Ming legal code by the dynastic founder. Long bols of the ancients. Take those for the sun, the tinction and embroider them in color on robes of
before that, however, since about the third cen- moon, the stars, the mountain, the dragon, and fine linen/' Relating to the emperor's powers as
tury B.C., these symbols had been hallowed by the pheasant and do paintings in color on ancestral well as to his ritual obligations, the symbols also
428 CIRCA 1492