Great Fortune for the Year of the Rooster: A Special Exhibition of Chicken Paintings from the Museum Collection,Period 2017/1/1 to 2017/3/25,Northern Branch Gallery 212
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  The year 2017 corresponds to "dingyou" in the traditional cyclical calendar and the rooster in the Chinese zodiac, making it the "Year of the Rooster." In the Chinese language, the character for "chicken" is "ji," a homonym for "fortune." The first character in the binome for "rooster" is likewise a homonym for "merit" and "achievement," while the chicken's "crest" stands for "official" and its "call" for "fame." As a result, the ancients often considered the chicken as an auspicious animal symbolizing "meritorious renown" and "promotion in rank and office."

   For millennia, people have raised chickens, making them an inseparable part of the economy with deep implications in life. Archaeologists, for example, have found the remains of chicken bones in ancient Chinese civilization. Evidence for the domestication of chickens dates no later than the Shang dynasty, as seen in excavations at the ruins of its last capital, Yin, located at modern Anyang City, Henan Province. Over thousands of years, the role of the chicken has evolved in thought and culture, at one point its egg serving as a symbol for the creation of all in Chinese genesis mythology. The chicken then became a spirit guardian capable of warding off evil and also the "Sun Bird" calling the sun to rise in the east. The form and habits of the chicken have been employed over the ages to express abstract beliefs and customs as well as other symbolic content, including ideas on how the cosmos operates. Afterwards, the rooster also became venerated as the "Bird of Virtues" for possessing the qualities of civil talent, military skill, courage, benevolence, and fidelity. Therefore, even in the worst of times, the rooster came to stand for faith and determination, being a model for good character among people. These descriptions trace a long and changing course of thought evolving from primitive religion to lofty cultural notions.

 The special exhibition here focuses on this animal in the Chinese zodiac to welcome the new lunar year in 2017, the National Palace Museum having selected seventeen of the finest works in its collection on the subject of chickens. It is hoped that bringing these paintings (and one silk textile) together gives rise to auspicious feelings of joy and prosperity among audiences in the Year of the Rooster.

Selections

Hen and Chicks

  1. Anonymous, Song dynasty (960-1279)
  2. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on paper, 41.9 x 33 cm
  3.  

 This painting depicts a hen leading five chicks pecking for food on the ground. The fluffy beautiful feathers of the hen are snow-white in color, and she keeps a watchful eye of maternal affection. The chicks stick close to their protective mother and exhibit the qualities of tenderness and frailty. The background is completely filled with pitch-black ink, making the chickens stand out even more clearly. The hen-and-chicks subject not only alludes to the expression, "May your five sons succeed in the civil service examinations." It also portrays the simple joy of rustic life--a hen taking her chicks out to look for food.

 The artist here paid great attention to observing and portraying the forms, the notion of "sketching from life" quite evident. Although this painting bears neither seal nor signature of the artist, it probably came from the hand of an academy master at the court.

Hen and Rooster with Chicks

  1. Xuanzong (1399-1435), Ming dynasty
  2. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 79.7 x 57.2 cm
  3.  

 Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming dynasty had the surname Zhu, the name Zhanji, and the reign name Xuande. On the throne for ten years, he not only brought about a golden age known as the "Rule of Ren and Xuan," he was also noted as a gifted painter and calligrapher.

 This painting depicts a rooster and hen taking chicks on the grass to peck for food, making an image of parental care in the animal world come to life before our eyes. This subject matter is a common one in the countryside, but it also promotes the idea of proper familial roles, thereby having a didactic function as well. The brushwork used for the chickens is meticulous, the soft lines combined with dry texturing. White powder was then added to make them stand out, revealing the heritage of fine-line brushwork and sketching from life from the Song dynasty. The style here, however, differs from Xuanzong's, suggesting that the work comes from the hand of a Ming dynasty court artist.

Hen and Chicks Under Chrysanthemum Blossoms

  1. Ju Chao (1811-1865), Qing dynasty
  2. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on paper, 121 x 49 cm
  3.  

 Ju Chao (sobriquet Meisheng), a native of Panyu in Guangdong (modern Guangzhou), was good at poetry and excelled at painting. The landscapes, flowers, and birds he depicted have a pure and refreshingly beautiful manner, serving as a precursor of the Lingnan School of painting.

 This work is dated to the "yichou" year (1865), when the artist was 55 by Chinese reckoning. It depicts the maternal care of a hen protecting her chicks in a moonlit scene. To emphasize the still atmosphere of the evening, the artist chose light hues with delicate washes of ink and colors to highlight the pure moon against the background. Critics stated that Ju Chao often used the "boneless" method of washes employed by Yun Shouping (1633-1690) for a pure and beautifully elegant style. Judging from this work, there indeed is substance to this saying.

Rooster

  1. Xu Beihong (1895-1953), Republican period
  2. Framed scroll, ink and colors on paper, 104 x 46 cm
  3.  

 Xu Beihong, a native of Yixing in Jiangsu, once studied art in Japan and France. He was also an art educator who combined the virtues of Chinese and Western art, making him one of the most important founders of modern Chinese art.

 Most of the rooster paintings by Xu Beihong show the bird standing with its head raised, a bright-red crown, and black tail feathers; his brush and ink are bold but not chaotic. The artist not only captured the rooster's form and spirit here, but also the idea of what it symbolizes. In the lower right is his signature, "Painted by Beihong at the end of the lunar year in the 28th year (of the Republic, 1939)." At the time, Japan had invaded China, so he probably was alluding to the expression, "In the storm (of war), the rooster's call (to attention) never ceases." Thus, Xu Beihong was calling on his countrymen to save the nation.

Hen and Chicks

  1. Wang Ning (fl. 11th c.), Song dynasty
  2. Album leaf, ink and colors on paper, 42.5 x 32.4 cm
  3.  

 Wang Ning, a native of Jiangnan, served as a Painter-in-Attendance at the Painting Academy prior to the Xining reign (1068-1077). He excelled at flowers, bamboo, and birds. In Xuanhe Painting Catalogue, he is described as "Having method when applying the brush, achieving a sense of vitality."

 Surviving paintings by Wang Ning are quite rare. This work shows a hen with her chicks pecking for food. The focus is on the hen, her wings slightly open to protect the eight chicks shown in a variety of poses. The painter used the "sketching from life" approach and paid close observation to the subject, making this a work in the Song academic style fusing both form and spirit.

Hen

  1. Shen Zhou (1427-1509), Ming dynasty
  2. Album leaf, ink on paper, 34.8 x 53.8 cm
  3.  

 Shen Zhou (style name Shitian), a native of Changzhou (modern Suzhou, Jiangsu), was gifted at poetry and prose, painting, and calligraphy. Regarded as the leader of the Four Ming Masters, he followed in the tradition of Southern Song ink painting to pioneer the Ming style of bird-and-flower subjects in the "sketching ideas" manner. He had a great influence on later generations.

 Shen Zhou was skilled at using a unique method to depict subjects in everyday life. This is the thirteenth leaf from "Album of Sketching from Life" and dated to the seventh year of the Hongzhi reign (1494). It depicts a hen with simplified brushwork, but the ink varies from light to dark and wet to dry, the fullness of the body and fluffiness of the feathers fully evident. The result is a lifelike appearance, but formal likeness was not the artist's intent, fully revealing his interesting treatment of brush and ink instead.

Exhibit List

Title
Artist
Period
Note
Hen and Chicks
Anonymous
Song dynasty
 
After a Painting by Huang Quan of Cocks Fighting Under Hollyhocks
Anonymous
Song dynasty (960-1279), attributed as
Embroidery
Hen and Chicks
Wang Ning (fl. 11th c.)
Song dynasty
 
Birds and Flowers Sketched from Life
Zhang Zhong (fl. ca. 1341-1370)
Yuan dynasty
 
Feeding Chicks
Bian Wenjin (fl. 1403-1424)
Ming dynasty
 
Chicks Under Campion Flowers
Lin Da
Ming dynasty (1368-1644)
 
Two Chickens
Lu Zhi (1496-1576)
Ming dynasty
 
Hen
Shen Zhou (1427-1509)
Ming dynasty
Rooster on a Flowering Bank
Wang Zhongli (fl. 1573-1619)
Ming dynasty
 
Hen and Rooster with Chicks
Xuanzong (1399-1435)
Ming dynasty
Cocks Fighting Under Persimmon Blossoms
Zhou Zhimian (fl. 1542-1606)
Ming dynasty
 
Cockfight
Zhu Lang (fl. 16th c.)
Ming dynasty
 
Great Fortune for the New Year
Chen Shu
Qing dynasty(1644-1911)
 
Hen and Chicks Under Chrysanthemum Blossoms
Ju Chao (1811-1865)
Qing dynasty
 
Chickens Below Wisteria Blossoms
Xu You
Qing dynasty(1644-1911)
 
After a Song Academy Painting of a Rooster Below Pomegranate Blossoms
Zou Yigui (1686-1772)
Qing dynasty
 
Rooster
Xu Beihong (1895-1953)
Republican period