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Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings
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清 朱耷（八大山人） 二鷹圖 軸
Zhu Da (Bada Shanren) (1626–1705)
Two Eagles, dated 1702
Hanging scroll, ink on paper; 73 x 35 1/2 in. (185.4 x 90 cm)
Ex. coll.: C. C. Wang Family
Lent by Oscar L. Tang (L. 1997.30)
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After decades spent concealing his identity as a descendant of the Ming royal house, Bada Shanren, at the age of seventy-six, seems in this forceful depiction of eagles to be declaring his proud defiance of Manchu Qing rule. There is no immediate precedent for such imagery; instead, the painting harks back to the powerful representations of eagles and hawks created by the early Ming court artist Lin Liang (ca. 1416–1480). Lin's heroic birds are emblems of strength and courage suitable for presentation to military officials. Bada, a fervent Ming loyalist, has personalized this imagery, transforming the conventional symbolism into an expression of brave confrontation and unfaltering loyalty: his noble birds stand sentinel over a landscape now occupied by foreign conquerors.
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