“Ten Noble Dogs” ( Chinese trade. 十 駿 犬 圖 , exercise 郎世宁 ) is a series of ten vertical scrolls depicting the dogs of Emperor Qianlong , created by the court painter and missionary Giuseppe Castiglione (known in China under his name Lang Shinin (郎世宁)). At the moment, is in the collection of the Museum of the Imperial Palace in Taipei [1] .
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| Giuseppe Castiglione | ||
| Tibetan mastiff from the series "Ten Noble Dogs . " 1747 | ||
| Silk, ink and paint. 247.5 × 163.7 cm | ||
| Imperial Palace Museum , Taipei | ||
Dogs who became the heroes of the series were presented to Emperor Qianlong in honor of the onset of the zodiac year of the Dog by officials [2] . Nine of them are the local breed of the greyhound group (presumably Sitsuan ), similar to modern greyhounds , saluki and whippets , as well as the Tibetan mastiff [2] . Most of them were named after mythical creatures (Yellow Leopard, Speckled Tiger, Black Dragon, mastiff nicknamed Heavenly Lion) [3] . Giuseppe Castiglione became famous at court for his works in the animalistic genre, in particular, works depicting horses, among them the monumental scroll “ One Hundred Horses ”, upon seeing which, the emperor called the author the main court artist [4] . According to archival records, the artist was commissioned to create portraits of dogs in 1747 [1] . Each scroll contains calligraphic characters in Chinese, Mongolian and Manchurian with the names of dogs and the name of the donor [1] [5] . For example, a dog named Red-Yellow Leopard was donated by Prime Minister Sanhe [1] . On the scroll, the dog looks back at the magpie sitting on the paulownia , flowering pomegranate and chrysanthemums are also present at work [1] . As in other works, Giuseppe Castiglione in this series combined elements of traditional Chinese painting and European realism. The manner of writing animal figures is accurate to the smallest detail (for example, eyes and hair in various shades), while background details are depicted in a more decorative and simplified manner [1] . There are suggestions that due to such strong differences in the manner of writing, other artists could work on the background for this series of works [1] [2] .
A series with dogs and other works by Castiglione influenced the work of the famous contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei [2] . In 2018, by the time of the Year of the Dog, the Chinese sculptor Chow Hanyu created porcelain dog figurines based on the series. All dogs are recreated in the same poses as on the scrolls [3] [6] . In 1971 and 72, images of the series appeared on Chinese postage stamps [7] .
Shanxi Wolf (睒 星 狼), Chinese Greyhound
Bandzinbiao (斑 锦 彪), Chinese Greyhound
Zanni (苍 猊), Tibetan mastiff
Tsangshuiqiu (苍 水 虬), Chinese Greyhound
Jinchixian (金 翅 猃), Chinese Greyhound
Mukuntsue (蓦 空 鹊), Chinese Greyhound
Moyuli (墨玉 璃), Chinese Greyhound
Red-yellow leopard (茹 黄 豹), Chinese greyhound
Shuanghuayao (霜花 鹞), Chinese Greyhound
Xueluzhua (雪 爪 卢), Chinese Greyhound
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tributes to Realism for Imperial Review (scroll to slide 4) . National Palace Museum.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 “Ten Prized Dogs” in Ancient China . Petcha.
- ↑ 1 2 Italian missionary's artwork for Chinese Emperor now sculpted into porcelain series .
- ↑ Suraeva N. G. Giuseppe Castiglione and his painting “One Hundred Horses” // Proceedings of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen. - 2010. - No. 126 . - S. 269—276 .
- ↑ Jonathan Leong. Hounds Of Imperial China . The bark .
- ↑ Deng Zhangyu. Italian painter's work for Chinese emperor inspires sculptures of dogs . China Daily (January 30, 2018).
- ↑ Special 80 Ten Prized Dogs Paintings Postage Stamps (1971) . Chunghwa Post Co.
Literature
- Cécile Beurdeley, Michel Beurdeley. Giuseppe Castiglione: a Jesuit painter at the court of the Chinese emperors. - CE Tuttle Co., 1971. - 204 p. - ISBN 0804809879 . - ISBN 9780804809870 .
- Marco Musillo. The Shining Inheritance: Italian Painters at the Qing Court, 1699-1812. - Getty Publications, 2016 .-- 184 p. - ISBN 1606064746 . - ISBN 9781606064740 .