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Start with the two long-tailed phoenixes at the top, then find the cranes behind the trunk, the orioles above them, and the ducks and wagtails by the water.
Five pairs of birds stand for the Five Cardinal Relationships of Neo-Confucian thought: phoenixes in a wutong tree for ruler and subject, cranes for filial piety, orioles for older and younger siblings, ducks for husband and wife, and wagtails for friends. Ren Yi painted it in 1895, the year he died, in the freer, wetter manner of his maturity; the Art Institute reads the orthodox subject as a sign of his belief in traditional values.
Hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper · 185.9 × 97.2 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Chinese painting: Qing
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Details and source
- Museum title
- The Five Virtues
- Artist
- Ren Yi (Chinese, 1840-1895)
- Date
- Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 1895
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper
- Dimensions
- 185.9 × 97.2 cm (73 1/2 × 38 1/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Florence Ayscough and Harley Farnsworth MacNair Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist’s life 1840–1895
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.