Animals in Chinese Art

I bought some books with prints of Chinese paintings of plants and animals when I was in Wuhan, China in 2006. I can’t read a word of Chinese, but I am sure the paintings are centuries old although I’m not sure from which dynasties. They are beautiful and in that spirit I add some of my favorites. Among eight of the ten here is the symmetry of pairs, sometimes the same like two deer or two cranes, and sometimes opposites, prey and predator, like the cat and a bird, the hawk and a rabbit. In three of the paintings a white hawk, a bird dangling from a chain, and a fish are the only subjects.





















Leave a Reply