Five Oxen:An Embodiment of Chinese Hermit and

Displayed in the west wing of the Hall of Martial Valor in the Palace Museum is Five Oxen， a Tang Dynasty（618-907） painting by Han Huang. The five oxen portrayed are in different postures： One is grazing， one looking up， one gazing back while licking with the tongue， one strolling forward， and the rest rubbing its neck against a bush to relieve the itch. Except for the bush， there is nothing in the background. Each of the five oxen can be seen as an individual work. But together， they make up an integrated painting， which demonstrates the painter’s mastery of composition skills. Dating back 1，200 years， Five Oxen is the earliest surviving Chinese painting on paper.

In the 1950s， when the Palace Museum redeemed the lost painting， it was stained with dirt， and marked with nearly 100 small holes. In 1978， the museum’s archaeologists restored and remounted Five Oxen， thus giving new life to the painting.

Its painter， Han Huang， was born during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His father， Han Xiu， was prime minister. Han Huang was also a high-ranking chancellor， titled the Duke of Jin. Han Huang was an expert in both calligraphy and painting. Despite his aristocratic origins， he preferred to depict rural life. It is believed that he created a number of paintings portraying farm life， of which Five Oxen is the only one existing now.

In his remarks on Five Oxen， Zhao Mengfu， an eminent calligrapher and painter of the Yuan Dynasty （1271-1368）， expressed his understanding of the reasons why some painters liked to portray oxen. Zhao believed that painters such as Tao Hongjing of the Southern Dynasties （420-589） painted oxen to convey their longing for a free， simple rural life rather than wealth and officialdom. As a high-ranking official， Han Huang and his family suffered the slings and arrows of politics. It is believed that Han created Five Oxen soon after he led the army to put down rebellions in the southwest. Although Emperor Dezong bestowed on him the title of the Duke of Zheng， he remained suspicious of Han’s military strength. Then， one year later， the emperor changed Han’s title to Duke of Jin and appointed him prime minister. The motive behind the move was to deprive Han of his control over the army. In this way， Han created Five Oxen to express his unwillingness to challenge the emperor.

Han created Five Oxen explicitly to showcase his political stance， but the painter’s disinclination for wealth and fame， as well as his superb painting techniques he learned from famous master Gu Kaizhi， made the work widely popular with Chinese artists and scholars.

In 1900， the Eight-power Allied Forces plundered the Forbidden City， and Five Oxen was lost. It was not until the 1950s that the painting reappeared – at an auction in Hong Kong. The Chinese government purchased the painting and commissioned the Palace Museum to collect it. The millennium-old painting embodies the Chinese hermit and farming culture.