Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Beauties and Heroes: Legends and Stories in Chinese Art

(from 21st Jan until 15th Jul 2012)

Explore paintings, prints and papercuts depicting legendary figures from Chinese folklore.

Detail of Heroes from The Water Margin, by Shi Dawei, Shanghai, 2003 (Museum No: EA2007.194)
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Quelling the Demons

Glossary

Zhong Kui

  • Zhong Kui

    Zhong Kui, or Shōki in Japanese, is a figure from Chinese folklore who appeared to the ailing 8th century Chinese Emperor Xuanzong in a dream and dispatched the demons that were haunting him. Shōki promised the Emperor that he would rid the world of demons.

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Modern Chinese Paintings: The Reyes Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

    Modern Chinese Paintings: The Reyes Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    Zhong Kui the Demon Queller derives from Tang legend, having been a poor but ugly scholar in the reign of Emperor Minghuang (712-56), whose unprepossessing looks denied him the recognition his intellect deserved. He is a popular subject not just for professional illustrators such as Gao Made and Cheng Shifa (see cat.no.13 [EA1995.180]), but also for other artists when producing figure paintings (see cat.no. 101 [EA1995.265]). This particularly fiery Zhong Kui is depicted in the style of an opera figure.
Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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