"Golden Rooster and Chicken" - painted on a vertical scroll by an unknown Korean artist, created in the XIX century during the rule of the Joseon dynasty . The work was created using ink, paint and paper. Together with decorative elements, the height of the piece is 200.7 centimeters, width - 62.7 centimeters. The work is an example of the development of a popular theme adapted from Chinese painting - “ flowers and birds ”. It also contains the mythological symbols of immortality: the sun , mountains, clouds, pines, cranes, turtles, deer and mushrooms [1] . In the center of the composition are a rooster and a chicken, sitting on a paulownia tree and a rock, respectively. They symbolize wealth and the future. The work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York [1] .
Golden rooster and chicken . XIX century | ||
114.3 × 45.7 cm | ||
Metropolitan Museum , New York | ||
( inv. ) |
Picture Information
Since antiquity, the rooster is a sacred animal in some cultures [2] , which is deeply rooted in various religious beliefs and worships. The rooster is one of the most important and traditional symbols in Chinese culture and art and is included in 12 signs of the Chinese horoscope (the Korean zodiac is almost identical to the Chinese zodiac). The ancient Chinese believed that the rooster was a symbol of high morality and the owner of the best qualities of the person. These beliefs also applied to residents of neighboring Asian countries [3] . During the Joseon Dynasty , symbolic animals began to appear in Korean art and culture, with positive and favorable characteristics in Chinese mythology - tiger , dragon , crane , deer and others. The scroll "Golden Rooster and Chicken" was created at the beginning of the XIX century. Due to the lack of official documents and records, the name of the author of the painting and the date of its creation remained unknown [1] . The center of the composition of the scroll is the rooster and the chicken, made in gold and red colors. A rooster sits on a paulownia tree trunk under the sun and clouds. Below, on a cliff with growing mushrooms of immortality, is a chicken [1] . This pair of birds can be an allusion to the mythological image of a golden pheasant (which, despite its name, has a reddish body with a yellow crest), symbolizing good luck [1] .
In 1919, the Golden Rooster and Chicken roll was donated to the Metropolitan Museum by the Rogers Foundation. The work was exhibited at exhibitions in New York , New Orleans , Honolulu , San Francisco , Los Angeles and Tulsa [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Golden Cock and Hen . Metropolitan Museum of Art. The appeal date is November 22, 2017.
- ↑ Jerry Adler; Andrew Lawler. How the Chicken Conquered the World (Eng.) // Smithsonian magazine : magazine. - 2012. - June.
- 倪 方 六. “文化” 对 古人 生活 的 影响 Neopr . 北京 晚报 、 网易 新闻 (January 19, 2017). The appeal date is November 22, 2017.