A Study On The Auspicious "Qilin" Paintings In The Yongle Era Ming Dynasty

"Ruiying Qilin Tu"(Auspicious Qilin Painting)depicts the event that the Bengal payed tribute Qilin to the Ming emperor in the 12th year of Yongle Era.It was painted by the court artist,the preface on the painting is written by Shen Du who served as a secretary in the Imperial Academy."Mingren Ruiying Tu"(Auspicious Sign painting of Ming Dynasty)is a scroll autographed by Zeng Qi,another officer in The Imperial Academy.The auspicious imaginary beast Qilin is a sign of the appearance of the holy king in the traditional Chinese culture.The "Qilin" in the two pictures above is actually a giraffe.This paper focuses on the Qilin(giraffe)image of two paintings,interprets the artistic and historical causes,icon sources and the influence of the two works,and reveals the commonness and individuality of the palace culture in the Yongle period.This paper is divided into five chapters to discuss the social background and cultural tradition of Ruiying "Qilin" paintings,traces back the origin of the schema and their circulation and influence at that time and in later generations.The first chapter introduces the basic situation of the two pieces of "Qilin" paintings in Yongle period and connection between Qilin and giraffe.The second chapter discusses Qilin tribute and court system culture:the tribute of Qilin,the emperors' psychological need and the political court culture.The third chapter mainly discusses the cultural foundation of the "Qilin"paintings the traditional culture of auspicious sign and Qilin worship culture.The fourth chapter analyzes the schema sources of the two images,the traditional tribute beast pattern,the text-image pattern and the animal decoration pattern.The fifth chapter is about the circulation of Ruiying "Qilin" paintings,the use of Qilin(giraffe)image in silk fabrics,the change made to the original painting in Qing Dynasty and in Japan.