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BADA SHANREN (ZHU DA). Two eagles

Two eagles. Artist: Bada Shanren (Zhu Da) (Chinese, 1626-1705). Culture: China. Dimensions: Image: 73 3/4 x 35 1/2 in. (187.3 x 90.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 122 3/4 x 42 1/2 in. (311.8 x 108 cm) Overall with knobs: 122 3/4 x 46 1/2 in. (311.8 x 118.1 cm). Date: dated 1702. After decades spent concealing his identity as a descendant of the Ming royal house, Bada Sharen, at the age of seventy-six, seems in this forceful depiction of eagles to be declaring his proud defiance of Manchu Qing rule. There is no immediate precedent for such imagery; instead, the painting harks back to the powerful representations of eagles and hawks created by the early Ming court artist Lin Liang (ca. 1416-1480). Lin's heroic birds are emblems of strength and courage suitable for presentation to military officials. Bada, a fervent Ming loyalist, has personalized this imagery, transforming the conventional symbolism into an expression of brave confrontation and unfaltering loyalty, his noble birds standing sentinel over a landscape now occupied by foreign conquerors.
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Author:
Title:
Two eagles
Caption:
Two eagles. Artist: Bada Shanren (Zhu Da) (Chinese, 1626-1705). Culture: China. Dimensions: Image: 73 3/4 x 35 1/2 in. (187.3 x 90.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 122 3/4 x 42 1/2 in. (311.8 x 108 cm) Overall with knobs: 122 3/4 x 46 1/2 in. (311.8 x 118.1 cm). Date: dated 1702. After decades spent concealing his identity as a descendant of the Ming royal house, Bada Sharen, at the age of seventy-six, seems in this forceful depiction of eagles to be declaring his proud defiance of Manchu Qing rule. There is no immediate precedent for such imagery; instead, the painting harks back to the powerful representations of eagles and hawks created by the early Ming court artist Lin Liang (ca. 1416-1480). Lin's heroic birds are emblems of strength and courage suitable for presentation to military officials. Bada, a fervent Ming loyalist, has personalized this imagery, transforming the conventional symbolism into an expression of brave confrontation and unfaltering loyalty, his noble birds standing sentinel over a landscape now occupied by foreign conquerors.
Technique/material:
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Period:
Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
Museum:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Credit:
Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Releases:
Model: No - Property: No
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Image size:
2699 x 4400 px | 34.0 MB
Print size:
22.9 x 37.3 cm | 9.0 x 14.7 in (300 dpi)
Keywords: