Portrait of a Gentleman
Not on view
A gentleman with a long, flowing beard sits on a tiger skin draped over a chair of luxurious carved lacquer. Behind him, a standing screen holds a painting of misty mountains. His robe of rich vermilion is adorned with a rank badge featuring two cranes; if accurate, such a badge would indicate that he was a civil official of the first rank, but people sometimes stretched the truth in premodern Chinese portraits to elevate their achievements. A portrait such as this one might have been made during the lifetime of the recipient, but after his death it would have been venerated in the family’s ancestral shrine or hall.
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