The NPM Zoo: Animal Paintings in the Museum Collection

The rat, cat, and ox were once good friends and agreed to attend the competition together. On the day of the race, the rat, unable to awaken the sleeping cat, chose the ox as its partner instead.    

Just before crossing the finish line in the lead, the rat jumped off the ox’s back and came in first, much to the anger of the cat, who became its enemy.    

In this section, paintings of animals from the Chinese zodiac have been selected (including the adorable cat) in monochrome ink as well as colors.    

Does this mother and child monkey hugging each other remind you of your mother? 

The insect on the upper right corner was recorded as a dung bug in ancient texts, but it is actually a beetle!

In Chinese, the saying “monkey on a horseback” signifies good wishes for immediate promotion in rank and office. It is based on the homonyms for horseback (ma shang) and immediate (ma shang), and peerage (hou) and monkey (hou). 

Notice how mighty and powerful the dragon is as it coils among the dark clouds in the sky? In ancient times, the dragon was the god of rain and the sea, and was in charge of the weather. Because of its miraculous power, the ancient emperors would often refer to themselves as the "true dragon emperor".

This painting can only be exhibited after being treated by the National Palace Museum’s conservation team. Can you tell the difference in the before-and-after comparison of the painting?  

A tiger is hiding in the grass, looking ahead with its sharp eyes. What is she looking at?

This animal with giant ears is very special. They were once called "suanni", the ancient name for the lion in Chinese. Since people in ancient times rarely had the chance to view a lion, artists would use their imagination to paint legendary beasts like this one.

Is the white bird of prey perched on the pine branch an eagle? Judging from the shape of its beak and dark eyes, it should be a falcon. Pure white falcons were extremely rare and therefore presented to the Qing court as tribute.

Take a closer look! Doesn’t it look like a ring-tailed lemur from Madagascar? This is actually their ancestor who lived 250 years ago. This realistic painting was done by the Western painter Giuseppe Castiglione during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty. The giant peach in the painting is a symbol of longevity.

This animal resembles a white tiger. Though it looks fierce, it is actually the benevolent mythical beast "zouyu". According to legend, it has a gentle personality and does not eat living creatures.

This group of shrimps seems to be hunting for something as they rush downward, while some are clustered together, creating an extremely lifelike scene. Shrimps symbolize auspiciousness and wealth and are a common subject in traditional Chinese painting.

Do these goldfish look familiar? That's right, with protruding eyes and a wing-like tail fin, they are the so-called "dragon-eye butterfly-tail" goldfish. Qing court painters knew that the emperor liked goldfish, so they painted them with great precision, hoping that the emperor would like it.

On a closer inspection, the goldfish is painted on a fan. There are several ways to mount traditional Chinese paintings and the "round fan" is one of them.

Pheasant snails are also called phoenix tail snails. The snails are edible and have beautiful shells. They are said to be imported from Ryukyu to China. After seeing and playing with them, the artist painted this picture and left a written record.