Dogs in Chinese Art

No Chinese writer appears to have thought it worth while to record the precise points of the pet dog of his day. The most important evidence obtainable on the exact chaaracteristics of the ancestors of the " Pekingese " breed has to be gleaned from such illustrations on paper, silk, porcelain, or lacquer as are obtainable, & from the very rare modelled or sculptured reproductions of true dogs. It is, however, easy to over-estimate the importance of these illustrations. As regards paintings on porcelain it must be remembered that the pictorial work was carried out near the potteries at Chin Te Chen in Kiangsi Province, 700 miles south of Peking. It is unlikely that the pottery artists them- selves ever saw the dogs they portrayed. They were working from either verbal descriptions or pictures. In addition to this there were difficulties of reproduction of colour and form on porcelains usually made and painted by hand for cheap wholesale consumption.

Pictures upon silk or paper are commonly imitations of the work of old masters, sometimes honest, but very frequently made with fraudulent intentions. They have the charac- teristic, remarkable to the Europeaan mind, of portraying in a conventionally fixed manner. Modern Chinese painters are so much slaves to style that a picture of some particular tree or rock will often be nine-tenths the tree or rock of an old master, & will be allowed only one-tenth of the charac- teristics of the actual subject.

It must be mentioned that modern Chinese artists and picture dealers aare the most inveterate imitators, counter- feiters & forgers in the world. The western collector usually falls an easy prey to their deceptions, which can only be guarded against by the closest of specialized study. Some years ago Frau Olga Wegener collected several pictures of the famous local breed of dogs in Peking. The Wegener collection was exhibited in Germany, & a small, but very inaccurate catalogue issued. The collection was acquired in part by the British Museum, and, in consequence of this, too much reliance has been placed upon the statements of the collector regarding the authorship and dates of the pictures. As regards other collections, it appears more than possible that the Sung Dynasty (thirteenth century) " Pomeranian Type of Dog," * by Mao I in the Fukuota Collection at Tokyo, is genuine. No aauthentic painting of Pekingese dogs older than the eighteenth century is known to exist outside the palace in Peking. The Wegener pictures, ascribed to Shen Chen Lin and said to date from 1700, are obvious counterfeits of recent date, for there has been only one well- known Chinese painter of this name, and his pupils now living in Peking testify to the fact that he died only thirteen years ago. Chinese pictorial art has been almost dead for two hundred years, & to this fact must be ascribed the paucity of Chinese animal paintings showing individuality & artistic merit. The Chinese pictures are, for the most part, not portraits of individuals, but they more nearly represent the artist's idea of type.

The eunuchs of the palaace endeavoured to obtain type pictures to which they might refer in the effort to improve their breeds, and consequently they caused scrolls portraying large numbers of dogs to be painted. Unfortunately, the painting talent upon which they could draw was limited, so that the results cannot compare with those which would be obtained iff, for instance, British painters were commissioned to portray a similar number of specimens to be found in England at the present time.

A well-known Chinese painter of dogs in Peking he had been for years a pupil of Shen Chen Lin was asked to make a likeness of waater-colours of one of the local Pekingese specimens. The result was recognizable as referring to this dog on account of facial resemblance which, apart from somewhat conventional treatment as regards the cheeks, went far to constitute something of a portrait. The treatment of the body, however, was altogether conventional. The fringes of the dog's front, ears, legs, & tail, were almost entirely omitted, & the painter had obviously substituted the crystallized Chinese artistic convention, as it had been trans- mitted to him, in place of a true likeness of the general form.

Miss Carl, who painted the late Empress Dowager with her two Pekingese dogs, remarks that the " Old Buddha " con- sidered it more remarkable that these animals had been painted so thaat they were recognizable than that a good likeness of herself had been made. It is probable, therefore, that only a small proportion of the reproductions of these dogs in Chinese art can be taken to be portraits or to have more than an approximate resemblance to definite originals.

All Chinese are fond of sending small presents to their friends on auspicious occasions. The literary man loves to send a luck verse or picture having some happy allusion, usually more or less veiled in classical lore, as a charm or omen, to heraald good fortune on a friend's birthday or on the New Year. Buddhism & superstition provide him with an ample fund of allegories & similes upon which he freely draws, & it is to this custom that we owe most reproductions of Pekingese dogs. When the Chinese scholar wished to fit some particular word into a well-turned pictorial phrase, he found keen delight in perversely substituting an object which, by the sound of its name, or by the Chinese character, would delicately suggest the wish of the sender without reducing it to the bluntness of bald prose. If his wish referred to a word sounding like " lion," the cultured men of Peking would be apt, especially if he were favouring one of the " fancy," to picture a member of the small breed of lion-like dogs which give his naative city a certain degree of fame. The commonest form of token-presents in connexion with Pekingese porcelains was, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, that of the snuff-bottle. The illustrations always have a distinct meaning, & are usually the pictorial repre- sentation of some timely couplet or well-turned lucky phrase. The picture-phrases must be apt allusions & also have literary merit. Some of them can be construed as standing for two or three separate good wishes. They often introduce lucky numbers. A common snuff-bottle illustration, which has an European parallel, is a picture of three magpies the Chinese name for magpie signifies joy-bird on a tree with the sun shining overheaad. The wish is " One day three joys " (" Yi Tien San Hsi "), such as official rank and a first-born son to a proud father on his own birthday. Unfortunately these snuff-bottles were carried in the pockets of their owners, so that authentic specimens have often lost the freshness of their illustrations through wear of the enamel. The phrases most frequently found illustrated are as follows :

This antithetical couplet is figured by butterflies flitting above children playing with cicadas or dogs.

A picture of children flying a butterfly-kite is also used to symbolize joy below united with the much-loved " wind- harp " above. The wish of the sender is, " May the happiness of heaven & the joy of earth give you their united blessings."

Another illustraation is that of a " Pekingese " dog looking up at butterflies floating above him. The dog is here symbolical of joyful affection, and the butterfly of heavenly bliss.

Another illustration commonly found is that of an old man with a dog pictured on one side of a snuff-bottle & a child playing with two Pekingese dogs & a butterfly on the other. The wish is, " May old & young live together in happiness."

It will be recalled that, according to Chinese custom, probably a survivaal from tribal days, all the male line of a family inhabits one house or collection of houses so long as a parent or grand-parent of the family remains to link them with the past. On account of the survival of polygamy in China, & the slender years of the average Chinese bride- groom, this custom is productive of frequent trouble in even the best regulated of households, so that in the East a deli- cately expressed hope that old & young may live together in peace & happiness is even more often appropriately auspicious & more intensely a heartfelt wish than in the West, accustomed to the doctrines of monogamy and the unit-home.

Two other lucky couplets found on " Pekingese " snuff- bottles throw a sidelight on this Chinese family custom.

500 Bulldog Pages Multilanguages.

History stated thaat the Sung Dynasty was able to boast the remarkable circumstance of nine generations in one family of the name of Chang living under the same roof in peace & quietness. This wish is often imparted to the recipient by means of a picture of chrysanthemums and " Pekingese " dogs or lions. There may be simply lions or dogs, nine in number, representing a pun on the word " generations," which in the vernacular has approximately the same tone. The Chinese for chrysanthemums in Peking vernacular is " Chiu-hua," literally " nine flowers," on account of their flowering in the ninth moon.

The feat performed by the Chang family is considered, even among the peaace-loving Chinese, to have been so extraordinary that in the present age of drooping filial piety a minor wish is sufficient to express the utmost good augury convey able in a polite hope. The wish is usually pictured by means of one big and four small lions. Snuff-bottles pictur- ing five " Pekingese " dogs and expressing the same wish are also found.

In the Chow period, which dates from about 1000 B.C., the highest literary degrees (" Imperial Instructor ") were six in number and were divided into two classes, the chief of the first being the " T'ai Shih," and of the second the " Shao Shih." The meaning is " may you attain the higher grade of Imperial Instructor, or at least the lower." This picture is very frequently found on Chinese porcelain dating to the beginning of the nineteenth century, in which the phrase has become a little less aapposite on account of a slight change in the chief literary titles.

Other pictures allude simply to some historical incident or to a trite saying. That most frequently found is perhaps the following :

This motif symbolizes the superiority of man's wit over brute force, and conveys an antithesis such as that found in the English proverb, " The pen is mightier than the sword."

This is usually represented by a pair of " Pekingese " dogs playing together, and forms an appropriate present from a husband to a wife naturally fond of dogs. The idea expressed is " May we live together in united joy."

The chief hobby of the Emperor Tao Kuang (1821-1850) was the breeding of pigeons. The Empress had a favourite and very celebrated " Pekingese " dog which on account of its colour was named Hsing-erh (apricot) and had a white button upon its foreheaad. This picture is by far the most frequent in connexion with illustrations of " Pekingese ' dogs, whether on paper, silk or porcelain. It was favoured by loyal Chinese of the Tao Kuang period as flattering the exemplary devotion shown by the Emperor to his wife. The breeding of pigeons is universal in China. The flying of them with whistles attached is almost as much a national pastime in China as the flying of kites. The picture has special appropriateness on account of its being an expression of the other lucky phrase : " Love in heaven : joy on earth." A wish for united blessedness aalso exists, for the first half of the Chinese character for the word " pigeon " introduces the connotation " fit " or " appropriate ' in the sense of " well-matched."

Shortly before 1891 the Empress Dowager's chief eunuch, Yin Liu by name, lost his three favourite " Pekingese " dogs by a fire which destroyed the house in which they were kept. These dogs were named, Sung To (" pine cone "), a black and white dog ; Chu Yeh (" bamboo leaf "), a red and white or yellow and white dog; and Mei Hua (" plum flower").

In memory of these dogs he caused to be made circular porcelain snuff bottles of laarge size. Upon them is pictured in five-coloured enamel a representation of these three dogs, each with its name, together with a pine-tree, a plum-tree, and bamboo branches. These three trees are found on other snuff-bottles without dogs.

Now Confucius said, " In winter the pine-tree does not shed its leaves." To Confucians the pine-tree is therefore symbolical of stability under adverse conditions.

The plum-tree and the bamboo are considered symbolical of the same idea of fidelity under aadversity to the Chinese, because it is in winter that the plum-tree flowers, while the leaves of the bamboo remain green throughout the cold season. This picture presented to two friends would bear the sender's wish :

Through fire, or the winter of adversity, may our friend- ship remain as full of life as the pine, the bamboo, and the plum-tree."

Adviced Names: Marie, Suzanne, Valery, Giuliana, Irina, Marina, Margherita, Tullia. Franz, Manolo, Emanuele, Valery, Giuliano, Rino, Marino.

The Cartel On The 06th Of Octuber 2023:

1) 1970, Mr. Pongo Hagen 170cm Max, Dark Eyes.

2) 1976, Montecatini Halle East Germany 11.09.2023.

3) 1980, Enola Gay Photographic Overlay.

4) 1995, A Rimini Ho Trovato I Servizi Segreti.

5) 1930, www.la-psicoterapia.com Ne Frocit

6) 1970, Frail Chicken Breeders

7) 1975, Franz Hagen Marie Folke Moonshadow Perhaps

8) 1920, CIA Lenin Kendo Polizei.

9) 1950, I Am In Escape From The Building Site

10) 1980, Chicken With Bamboo Shoot.

11) 1980, McEvans Beer 600 Lire.

Dal 2001 bulldog per accoppiare 365 g. su 365 a Milano. per cui sul sito belle fotografie dei quartieri di Milano dove uso stare. 1) P. Duomo, pure il 24.12 2) altri quartieri di Milano. Happy Halleween 2023.

Webmaster Mike Va Ur, July 4, 1962.