Chinese Ancestor Painting
Unknown Chinese, Qing DynastyAncestor Paintingca. 1850polychrome on silk51 1/2 x 24 3/4 in.gift of David M. & Jean S. Bartlett1997.025.002

Ancestor Painting

 

The genre of ancestor paintings, first seen in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), embodies the Confucian ideal of veneration of authority figures in all realms of life, including the family. Celebration of deceased family members was a part of Chinese culture as far back as the Bronze Age. Ancestor worship was practiced at all levels of society and persists today with photographs of the honored deceased.


The Ancestor Painting here of an elderly woman of high rank from the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) was made for a very wealthy, probably aristocratic, family to display at an alter in their home. The relatively large painting on silk was expensive to make and would have been reserved for viewing on special occasions when offerings were made to the family’s ancestor spirits. The elaborate ‘dragon robe’ and ‘phoenix crown’ and the fine, carved chair draped with a silk brocade scarf reveal the sitter’s status as a person of great importance. She is presented frontally, to maximize our experience of her face and of her rich and glorious costume. The realistic modeling of the face endows her with character as a living presence. The facial and neck musculature reveals that she is quite elderly. This naturalism suggests that the portrait was commissioned before her death. The voluminous red sleeves of her engulfing robes are stylistically modeled with a deeper tone to enhance the grandeur of the garment. The remainder of her robes are painted in a flat, traditional manner, enabling us to enjoy the jewel-tone colors and patterns of the brocade and sumptuous trim. The dragon motif, ‘Mandarin square’ badge of rank, and elaborate headdress indicate that she was related to an Emperor or a high-ranking courtier. Adhering to accepted traditional art forms of the genre, there is little sense of spatial depth in the painting; the painting’s structure is accomplished primarily through the architecture of the chair, the modeling of the large sleeves, and the overall round shape of the garments.