Many Deer
Artist
Unknown
CultureChinese
DateMing-Qing dynasty (1368-1911)
MediumHandscroll; ink and color on paper
DimensionsOverall: 10 × 121 3/4 inches (25.4 × 309.25 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number33-649
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionTwenty two deer of varying age and sex in a rocky, wooded landscape setting beside a mountain stream with waterfalls.Exhibition HistoryUniversity of Chicago. Exhibition of 18th-century Chinese art. May 1968.
A herd of spotted deer, animals common in Chinese art and literature, roam this verdant landscape. In Chinese, “deer” sounds like the word for official rank and salary, so the phrase “many deer” conveys a wish for prosperity. Deer also symbolize longevity, as they often accompany Daoist deities or immortals in art.
With Dr. Otto Burchard, Peiping (modern-day Beijing), China, by March 1933;
Purchased from Burchard, through Laurence Sickman, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.
Wai-Kam Ho, et al., Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art. (The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, c1980), 340-342, no. 253.
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