南宋？ 佚名 舊傳易元吉 三猿得鷺圖 團 扇頁|Gibbons Raiding an Egret's Nest

Yi Yuanji|Unidentified artist

late 12th century · Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

Taken literally, this painting is a dramatic vignette from nature, in which three gibbons raid an egret’s nest, capturing young birds as their mother circles above in anguish. Symbolically, the animals comprise a rebus, a visual pun in which a phrase is spelled out using pictures. In Chinese, the phrase “three gibbons capture egrets” (san yuan de lu) may also be read as “a triple first gains power,” a wish for success in the three levels of the imperial examinations. Originally mounted as a fan, this exquisite painting would have been the perfect gift for an aspiring scholar preparing for the exams.

Artist

Yi Yuanji|Unidentified artist

Date

late 12th century

Medium

Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on silk

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913