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Phoenix

Photo: Susan Cole

Phoenix

18th century

One of the four auspicious animals in Chinese mythology, the phoenix traditionally represents good fortune and prosperity. As a painting subject, it rose to popularity in the 14th century among court painters. Stimulated by the political and social climate of their time, painters of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and onward portrayed the phoenix for its symbolic political messages—as either the worshipped emperor or the righteous scholar-official—rather than for the mythical bird’s decorative value.
Ink and color on silk
Overall: 104 5/8 x 40 11/16" (265.7 x 103.3cm)
Image: 60 x 39in. (152.4 x 99.1cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
34.180
Provenance: Leon Ellis
Photo: Susan Cole
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Published ReferencesSung, Hou-mei, Decoded Messages: The Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal Painting, Yale University Press, 2009, cat. no. 44, illus. pg.116

Toda, Teisuke and Hiromitsu Ogawa. Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Paintings: Second Series. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1998. See p. I-362, I-259.

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