Selling Yourself

Attributed to Huizong, Auspicious Cranes, 1112, Chinese..

The appearance of 20 cranes at a festival was taken as a sign that Heaven had blessed the Emperor's rule, this work was produced by the Emperor as a piece of propaganda. Huizong was the Emperor.

Another Look

Landscape: A Man Looking at a Waterfall, Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian.

The first time someone told me to look at Chinese paintings up and down instead of across, it made seeing the whole image so much easier.