The Multivalent Imagery of the Ox in Song Painting

Oxherding is a popular theme that flourished in Song dynasty paintings. Although some Tang artists had started to paint the ox,¹ oxherding did not appear as a distinguishable painting subject until the Five Dynasties (907–960).² In the subsequent Song dynasty (960–1279), especially during the Southern Song period (1127–1279), oxherding painting became popular among scholar-officials.³ Art historians have tried to understand how these paintings were appreciated and received in the Song society in order to understand why the oxherding theme suddenly flourished. In a ground-breaking article, Scarlett Jang wrote:

[Song] scholar-officials gained temporary relief from their busy, stressful careers in the big cities. While viewing [oxherding] paintings, they also found a way to express their ideal of withdrawal in order to fulfill the requirement of a virtuous Confucian official. The emperor was also pleased by viewing [oxherding] paintings, because they implied his worthiness to rule and his political success. Chan artists, inspired by the use of [oxherding] as a metaphor for attaining enlightenment, made the theme an important one in their painting.⁴

Among extant oxherding paintings from the Song dynasty, the majority of them feature relaxed, peaceful, or amusing pastoral scenarios. For example, bucolic sentiments in paintings like Herding an Ox by a River Bank (Figure 1) by Yan Ciping (閻次平; act. 1260s–80s) can be appreciated today by contemporary viewers. Some oxherding paintings, however, feature images of oxen and herdsman that do not conform to Jang’s above categorization, such as Buffalo and Herd Boy in Landscape by an anonymous Southern Song artist (Figures 2–4). The ox in this painting is haggard and skinny, possibly the result of poor nutrition; its lowered head, which is uncommon among the oxen depicted in Song paintings, indicates a lack of energy; its hooves are thin, up-tilted, and stretched widely, which suggests old age and probably a sign of overuse. Compared to the oxen in many oxherding paintings such as Herding an Ox by a River Bank (Figure 1) and Returning Oxen by a Willow Creek by an anonymous Southern Song artist (Figure 5), both of which can be properly called bucolic oxherding, the ox in Buffalo and Herd Boy in Landscape is obviously different. In addition to the ox, the thin, poorly dressed herd boy adds more pitiful sentiments to the overall image. The trembling and flimsy lines used to depict the boy’s clothes, along with the boy’s haggard limbs and disheveled hair, recall a painting by the Southern Song artist Zhou Jichang (周季常; act. 1178–1188), Lohans Bestowing Alms on Suffering Human Beings (Figure 6), in which a similar technique was applied by the artist to depict poor, starving people. Jang observes the oxherding paintings that feature an idealized pastoral world are often “full of entertaining anecdotal details describing the ease and delightfulness of rustic life.”⁵ It is hard, however, to imagine that an image like Buffalo and Herd Boy in Landscape (Figure 2) could arouse a nostalgic longing for country life, or could have been enjoyed by an emperor as a sign of political success. Likewise, it is unlikely that this painting could serve as a Buddhist metaphor for disciplining the mind as illustrated in Herd Boy Taming the Ox (Figure 7) by Zhirong (智融; 1114–1193), because the image of an undernourished herd boy and emaciated ox walking does not fit in the series of the taming process, which is the central feature of oxherding images appreciated by Chan Buddhists.⁶ Therefore, in addition to the readings proposed by Jang, alternative interpretations for such an oxherding painting must also have

Figure 1.

Yan Ciping (閻次平; act. 1260s–80s), Herding an Ox by a River Bank 江堤放牧圖. Fan painting; ink and colors on silk. 23 × 21 cm.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.

Figure 2.

Artist unknown, Buffalo and Herd Boy in Landscape 牧牛圖. Southern Song dynasty. Fan painting, ink and light colors on silk, 27.9 × 28.3 cm.

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle.