Ox(idate)

I wonder if it is fortuitous that this Chinese Year is the ‘Year of the Ox’. Commencing on 12 February, it was perfectly timed to coincide with the short stage 4 hard lockdown in Melbourne.

The characteristics of the Chinese ‘zodiac ox’ include strength, reliability, perseverance, common sense and conscientiousness – all the qualities needed by the local population to continue to grapple with the vicissitudes of the coronavirus pandemic.

The ox is an important motif in Chinese mythology. It features in myths where it is the protagonist of the action, and also in stories where the ox has a metaphorical role. Symbolically, oxen have been depicted in paintings to demonstrate the ability of the mind to control the body and its urges.

One story, told by Anthony Christie in ‘Chinese Mythology’ (1968), relates ‘How the Heavenly Oxen came to Earth’.  According to the myth, the original plow-oxen lived in heaven as the ‘ox stars’. The Emperor of Heaven, seeing the starving people on earth and wishing to help them, sent the ‘ox stars’ to earth with a message that if the people worked hard, they would not starve but would have a meal at least every three days. Unfortunately, the oxen confused the message and promised three meals a day if people worked hard. Punishing the oxen for getting the message wrong, the Emperor restricted the animals to the Earth to help the farmers accomplish their labour.

In the Chinese zodiac calendar, which began in the third century BCE, the ox is the second animal in the cycle. According to an ancient folk story, the Jade Emperor decreed that the years on the calendar would be named for each animal in the order that reached him after crossing a river in the ‘Great Race’. As a reliable water animal, the ox was confident and undeterred by the competition. However, the rat, who was not good at swimming, came up with a cunning plan. Recognising the kind but naïve nature of the ox, he persuaded the ox to carry him over the river and jumped off on reaching the other side to be the first animal to greet the emperor.

(Zodiac rats are said to be quick-witted and resourceful with a strong sense of self-awareness and determination. These qualities sound a lot like a mutating coronavirus which took hold during the Year of the Rat. Perhaps the connection of rats with earlier Bubonic Plagues should have served as an omen?)

The ox is also seen as one of the two fearsome guardians of the Underworld in Chinese mythology. With his counterpart Horse-Face, Ox-Head (a composite figure with human body and the head of an ox), is one of the first beings a dead soul meets on arriving in the Underworld.

During the Tang Dynasty, an ox or bull was often featured in a lokapala (a Buddhist guardian figure). An example of a bull in this context is seen in the National Gallery of Victoria collection where the guardian warrior is trampling a bovid which represents ignorance.

Despite its importance, the ox does not feature prominently in Chinese art. However, a handscroll painting featuring five oxen on flax paper created about 1,300 years ago has been widely recognized as the earliest extant painting in China. Attributed to Han Huang (723-787), a chancellor during the Tang Dynasty, Five Oxen is held in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Han was an impressive official who served in a number of roles including: imperial censor, defence and civil service, and prefect and governor in various parts of the country. Having a Confucian education, he was also proficient in calligraphy, poetry and art – in painting Han was a follower of Gu Kaizhi (c. 345-406) widely regarded as the father of classical Chinese figure painting.

In Five Oxen, Han portrays the five animals horizontally with an absence of background. All the oxen are vividly rendered with each having a different posture, action, countenance and expressive persona. His particular attention to the oxens’ eyes encourages an anthropomorphism allowing viewers to attribute contentment, sadness, obedience, kindness and stubbornness to the animals.

Technically, Han depicts each ox as an ink-line drawing demonstrating the animals’ skeletal structures and musculature with fairly accurate anatomical perspective. Each is then coloured with light and delicate strokes, shading and gradation.

While Han did not add his name or seal to the scroll, more than a dozen celebrities added their colophons over the following centuries. Notable among them is Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322) deemed one of the greatest painters and calligraphers in Chinese history. Zhao categorically acknowledged the scroll as created by Han and described it as a ‘rare gem’. (The NGV has a work attributed to Zhao, Dignitary with groom and three horses, which demonstrates this artist’s grace and facility).

Five Oxen, was a radical departure from contemporary Tang Chinese art which typically depicted landscapes, flowers and birds – or, if animals, horses. The subject matter may have been encouraged by Han’s role as imperial court chancellor in charge of agriculture.

Later, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), ox paintings did become popular as artists valued the athletic form-likenesses that they captured. A particularly adept exponent was Dai Song (a follower of Han Huang) who achieved considerable success in this genre.

Another Song era artist who highlighted oxen in art was Li Tang (c. 1049-1130). His ox-herding paintings resonated with the desire and satisfaction Confucian officials had for rural tranquillity and retreat after their many years of imperial service.

This year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is celebrating the Year of the Ox with an exhibition depicting oxen and water buffalo created by artists in the last 3,000 years. Exhibition objects can be viewed at: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2021/year-of-the-ox

Finally, according to Feng Shui, the ox has a reputation for granting wishes. Let’s wish that the ox triumphs over the rat to return safety, health and optimism to the world.