Nine Dragons Chinese Panting of Chinese Sung Dynasty
2024 is the year of the dragon. The image of the Chinese dragon is different from that of the western dragon. The dragon is a triphibian animal. It can survive on the ground, under the sea, and in the sky. Chinese dragons can fly without wings. They like to live in the ocean. When flying, they like to hide behind the clouds in the sky. People cannot see its head and tail at the same time. Chinese dragons spit water and fire. Dragons are mysterious, cloudy, blurred, and unreachable. It is the symbol of power from heaven. The Chinese emperor was considered the son of heaven. An emperor has the authority to send commands to dragons. Therefore, the dragon is also a symbol of the emperor in China.
"Nine Dragons" Panting by Chen Rong of Chinese Sung Dynasty is in the museum of fine arts Boston. This panting was once collected by the Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) of Qing Dynasty. It was last sold for $25,000 to the Boston museum in 1917.
Chen Rong's Nine Dragons depicted nine dragons flying in mountains, clouds, or torrents with different postures and full of imagination. Later, Chinese named nine dragons are Heavenly Dragon, Earthly Dragon, Water Dragon, Fire Dragon, Fortune Dragon, Power Dragon, Longevity Dragon, Happiness Dragon, and Wealth Dragon.
Panorama View Nine Dragons Chinese Panting
This is the complete of Chinese Nine Dragons Painting, which is painted by Chen Rong (1200-1266) in Sung Dynasty, around 1244 AD. Currently, this painting is a collection of Boston museum. To wipe or click to view all nine dargons.
In 2017, Chen Rong's "Six Dragons" was sold at Christie's in New York at a price of 43.5 million US dollars. It added up to $48,967,500 including the commission. The image dimension of "Six Dragons" painting is 34.3 x 440.4 cm. The image dimension of "Nine Dragons" painting is 46.2 x 958.4 cm. The value of "Nine Dragons" should be three times more than "Six Dragons".
A total of 22 pieces of Chen Rong's works are still in existence today. 11 pieces are in China and Taiwan. Six pieces are in Japan and five pieces are in USA.
- "Kowloon Map" is collected in the Boston Museum of Art
- "Five Dragons" is collected in the Nelson Museum of Art, Kansas City
- "Clouds and Rains" is collected in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
- "Dragon Flying Cloud Map" is collected in Museum of Art at Princeton University
- "Shuanglong Opera Chart" is collected in the St. Louis Art Museum.
Chen Rong was very good at drawing dragons. Before Sung Dynasty, images of dragons in artworks were fairly abstract and mysterious-looking. Chen Rong's dragons gives people a senses of shocking power. His dragons became vivid, genuine, authentic, undisputed and representational Chinese dragons. There are only a few of Chen Rong's paintings left now.
Chinese dragon cultrure carries down from Chinese I-Ching. That means Chinese talked about dragon before 2900 B.C. Dragon is a triphibious animal. It can survive on the ground, in the water, and in the sky. Mystic, powerful and unreachable charactortics makes dragons as a privilge icon for Chinese emperors. Dragon Philosophy of I-Ching impacts the Chinese philosophy of the life for thousands of years.
There are nine dragons engraved on the wall and ground in the Forbidden City in Beijing, the imperial palace of Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912). Nine is the highest digit and stands for top rank. Nine is also related to the sky in I-Ching. That's why the imperial robes of Qing Dynasty also have nine dragons on them. Chinese legendary dragon has nine sons.
By Master Allen Tsai November 2, 2018Dragon Philosophy, I-Ching and Chinese Astrology