Page 458 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

trees, rocks,
But the boldly cut-off
This symbolism was fundamental and has
307 endured into the twentieth century, much and river bank, and the bold brushwork outlining
WHITE TIGER IN A FROSTY WOOD embroidered over the millennia. Since at least the the rocks, all relate to the professional painter's
Eastern Han dynasty (A.D. 25-220) the tiger has habits, as may be seen in the works of Zhang Lu
before 1503 been a potent guardian against demons, appearing (cat. 305). S.E.L.
Chinese widely in that role on clothing and household
handscroll; ink and color on silk equipment. "The Chinese word for 'amber'... has
3
l
2(}.8 X 69 fl! /4 X 2J /8) been pleasantly explained as 'tiger's soul,'... and
references: Schafer 1963, 247; Xu 1987; Huai'an the etymology has been rationalized by the tale
1988 that the congealing glance of a dying tiger forms
from a tomb excavated 1982 in Huai'an County, 308
Jiangsu Province the waxy mineral" (Schafer, 1963, 247). Legend
also had it that the tiger lived a thousand years, THE LUOHAN VAJRIPUTA
Huai'an County Museum, Jiangsu Province turning white at the midpoint of its life. In China
the tiger (not the lion) was king of the beasts, c. 1500
The particulars of the tomb in which this often so identified in art by the character for eastern Tibetan or Chinese
painting was found have been summarized in "king" on its forehead, and its native power and thangka (icon in hanging scroll format) ;
color and gold
on cotton
catalogue 306. ferocity recommended tiger skins and tiger motifs 81.3 x 50.8 (32 x 20)
The tiger entered Chinese art during the for military dress. references: Fong 1958; Gordon 1959,104; Pal and
Bronze Age, appearing as a favorite motif on The tiger was also a favored subject in paintings Tseng 1975; Pal 1984, 126, 127, 214, pi. 59; Tate
bronze ritual vessels and on jades of the Shang of the Southern Song (1127-1279) dynasty, par- 1989-1990,196-206, fig. 10
period (trad. 1766-1045 B.C.); its symbolic signifi- ticularly in those with Daoist or Chan Buddhist
cance at that time, if it had any, is uncertain. As a themes. It is to these works that the present Navin Kumar Gallery, New York
symbol of the western quandrant of the compass, painting looks back for inspiration.
or indeed of the cosmos, the tiger appeared in The auspicious beast is depicted at the center of This image is more Chinese in character than
Chinese art by the fifth century B.C. As gov- the scroll, looking back over its left shoulder and most Tibetan representations of luohan (S: arhat,
ernor — even divinity — of that quadrant, the tiger apparently snarling. White opaque pigment colors person who has attained Enlightenment by his
was confirmed, together with the other Animals his body and partly covers the ink stripes. In the own efforts). Except for the marked difference
of the Four Directions (Si Shen), during the West- landscape about him the artist has taken drastic in scale between the luohan and his devotee, and
ern Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 8). By the reign of liberties with relative scale. Bamboo leaves and the decorative emphasis on the colors of the robes,
Han Wu Di (r. 141-87 B.C.) the cosmic corre- red-tinged Japanese maple are huge, and the far the painting is remarkably realistic, in the Chi-
spondence between symbolic creatures, directions, tree trunk on the left is as large as the one in the nese sense, and especially natural in its handling
elements, colors, and moral qualities was firmly nearest foreground. The result is bizarre, or per- of the landscape environment. The pine, bamboo,
acknowledged: the tiger connoted the west, the haps "folkish," showing something of the noncha- and prunus behind the luohan are the "Three
element metal, the color white, and the Confucian lant roughness found in much Korean painting of Friends" — symbols of incorruptibility and endur-
virtue of righteousness (yi). the early Choson dynasty (1392-1910) (cat. 270). ance and one of the favorite motifs of Chinese

TOWARD CATHAY 457