Animal Paintings of the Tang and Five Dynasties

For the first time in history，animal-themed paintings began to become an independent genre of art in the Tang Dynasty（618-907）.The Tang was a period encouraging a martial spirit，and from the imperial court to the populace，people showed great love towards horses.Naturally，there emerged a number of artists who specialized in portraying saddlehorses.Among them，Han Gan，Cao Ba，Chen Hong and Wei Yan undoubtedly enjoyed the greatestfame.Han Gan’s most representative work”Picture of Zhaoyebai”was an excellent portrait of Emperor Xuanzong（685-762）’s same-titled favorite mount.It now resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Perhaps as famous as Han Gan’s“Zhaoyebai”was Han Huang’s“Picture of Five 0xen”presently being kept in the Palace Museum of Beijing.Dai Song was another Tang Dynasty painter celebrated for ox portraits too.

In addition，in the tombs of the Tang and the following Five Dynasties（907-960），there 11，dugltlis no lack of frescos and silk paintings themed on hunting on horseback.

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