Nine Dragons (painting)

{{Short description|1244 handscroll by Chen Rong}}

{{Infobox artwork

| image_file = Nine-Dragons1.jpg

| painting_alignment =

| image_size = 300px

| caption = Detail: One of the dragons from the scroll

| title = Nine Dragons

| other_language_1 =

| other_title_1 =

| other_language_2 =

| other_title_2 =

| artist = Chen Rong

| year = 1244

| type = Ink and color on Xuan paper

| height_metric = 46.3

| width_metric = 1496.4

| height_imperial =

| width_imperial =

| metric_unit = cm

| imperial_unit = in

| city = Boston

| museum = Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

}}

Nine Dragons ({{lang|zh|九龍圖卷}}; {{transl|cmn|Jiǔlóngtú juǎn}}) is a handscroll painting by Chinese artist Chen Rong.East Asian Scroll Paintings. University of Chicago Center for Art of East Asia. Nine Dragons. Chen Rong. https://scrolls.uchicago.edu/view-scroll/49 Painted in 1244, it depicts the apparitions of dragons soaring amidst clouds, mists, whirlpools, rocky mountains and fire, the painting refers to the dynamic forces of nature in Daoism and the liquid, water-like essence of the Tao.{{Cite book |last=Carlson |first=Kathie |title=The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images |last2=Flanagin |first2=Michael N. |last3=Martin |first3=Kathleen |last4=Martin |first4=Mary E. |last5=Mendelsohn |first5=John |last6=Rodgers |first6=Priscilla Young |last7=Ronnberg |first7=Ami |last8=Salman |first8=Sherry |last9=Wesley |first9=Deborah A. |collaboration=Authors |publisher=Taschen |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-8365-1448-4 |editor-last=Arm |editor-first=Karen |location=Köln |pages=704 |editor-last2=Ueda |editor-first2=Kako |editor-last3=Thulin |editor-first3=Anne |editor-last4=Langerak |editor-first4=Allison |editor-last5=Kiley |editor-first5=Timothy Gus |editor-last6=Wolff |editor-first6=Mary}} The depicted dragons are associated with nine sons of the Dragon King, while the number nine itself is considered auspicious in Chinese astrology and folk beliefs.{{cite web | url =http://beyond-calligraphy.com/2012/03/06/nine-sons-of-the-dragon-king/| title =Nine Sons of The Dragon King |publisher =Beyond Calligraphy|author=Ponte Ryūrui | accessdate = 17 October 2013}}

Areas of the painting are spattered with drops of ink, either flung or blown onto the surface in a manner similar to action painting. This is a conscious evocation of rain and may even be a rainmaking ritual by the artist; lines 32 and 33 of Chen Rong's poetic inscription describe how his dragons either could, or did, produce rainfall:{{cite book|title=The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture|first1=Jerome |last1=Silbergeld|first2= Eugene Y.|last2= Wang|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year= 2016|page=267|isbn=9780824846763}}

{{quote|In the world people longed for sustained rain.{{pb}}

Suoweng [that is, I] sketched forth Nine Dragons}}

The painting features multiple inscriptions and stamps. The left side features various colophons, including those by Zhang Sicheng and Dong Sixue, a Song dynasty official. Two inscriptions on the painting were made by the artist's own hand.{{cite web| url =http://scrolls.uchicago.edu/scroll/nine-dragons| title =Nine Dragons| publisher =Digital Scrolling Paintings Project| accessdate =17 October 2013| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20131017193550/http://scrolls.uchicago.edu/scroll/nine-dragons| archive-date =17 October 2013| url-status =dead}} The dating is based on one of them. According to the inscription placed at the end of the painting, the work was inspired by two other paintings, Cao Ba's Nine Horses and Nine Deers, attributed to Huichong. A later inscription by the Qianlong Emperor says that besides praising Chen Rong's painting, Qianlong ordered a court painter to make a copy of it. Qianlong also impressed several seals on the original painting, whose text appreciate the work.{{clarify|date=August 2015}}Hsien-chi Tseng, 1957. A Study of the Nine Dragons Scroll. In: Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America. Vol. 11, (1957), pp. 16-39. Published by: University of Hawai’i Press. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20066990 Retrieved 8 September 2021.

{{Panorama

|image = File:Chen Rong - Nine Dragons.jpg

|height = 230

|alt =

|caption = The complete scroll. It is read right to left.

|dir = rtl

}}