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Gallery: Ming soldiers in art
🕑 Added 2022-06-01 02:23:44 +0000 UTCThis is a simple gallery to showcase the many fascinating variety of Ming soldiers found in paintings and arts. It will be continuously updated as I come across new artworks to add to it.
Sources:
- A mural from an abandoned Fire God Temple located in Yongning Ancient Town, Yanqing District, Beijing. Though badly damaged, the mural depicts a battle scene participated by both gods and human, with the gods aiding Ming troops defeating their nomadic foes.
- A Ming period Water-and-Earth ritual scroll (水陸畫) discovered in Guizhou.
- Shang Lin Tu (《上林圖》): One of the many, many copies of the famous painting attributed to Ming painter Qiu Ying (仇英). The painting visualises the grandeur of various sceneries inside Imperial Park as well as the Imperial hunt, as described in a Western Han period poem Shang Lin Fu (《上林賦》).
- Kang Wo Tu Juan (《抗倭圖卷》): A scroll painting currently in the possession of National Museum of China. The scroll painting commemorates a Ming victory over Wokou in 1555, possibly referring to the Great Victory of Wangjiangjing (王江涇大捷).
- Wakō-zukan (『倭寇図巻』): A scroll painting with a similar theme to Kang Wo Tu Juan, but not a direct copy, currently in the possession of The University of Tokyo. The scroll painting commemorates a Ming victory over Wokou in 1558. The exact battle depicted in the painting is believed to be the Battle of Yongjiachang (永嘉場), a relatively minor battle.
- Lan Zhang Zhan Gong Tu (《藍章戰功圖》): A painting commissioned in 1503 to commemorate the military achievement of Lan Zhang (藍章), provincial governor of Shaanxi, particularly his contribution in quelling the rebellion of Lan Ting Rui (藍廷瑞) and Yan Ben Shu (鄢本恕). Unfortunately, the painting was partially vandalised during Cultural Revolution.
- Chu Jing Ru Bi Tu (《出警入蹕圖》), a set of two painted scrolls, depicting the massive Imperial guard entourage accompanying Emperor Shenzong (Reigned 1572-1620) on his grave visit to the Ming Imperial Tombs in 1583, as well as his return trip.
- Ping Fan De Sheng Tu (《平番得勝圖》), a painted scroll to commemorate the victory of Ming border cavalry from Guyuan garrison against an ethnic minority rebellion at Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia in 1575.
- Guan Bang Tu (《觀榜圖》), a painted scroll depicting the day of announcement of Imperial Examination result, where the palace is crowded with candidates eager to know their results.
- Xing Jun Tu (《行軍圖》), currently in the possession of National Museum of China, depicting Ming army on the march. It is a painting reproduced by early Qing painter Yang Ji (嚴紀) in 1643, based on an earlier work that is now presumably lost.
Comments
GreatMingMilitary
Thank you. I will try to add some context in the picture captions, but the 140-word cap is quite limiting.
Angus MacDonald
Contemporary art is the closest we can come to photography to visualize the costumes and arms of the period. Thanks for collecting these. It would be great to understand more about the context of the painter or painting to understand whether we're observing a specific moment in time (e.g. to celebrate the arrival of heavy cavalry in Hangzhou in 1552 after a long march from the capitol) or a more general statement about how the army in Fujian, etc. appeared.
