The Five Oxen by Han Huang, the full scroll, located in the Palace Museum
The Five Oxen (traditional Chinese:五牛圖; simplified Chinese:五牛图) or Wuniu tu, is a hand scroll painting on paper by Han Huang (723 – 787), a high-ranking official of the Tang dynasty. It is celebrated as one of the oldest surviving paper scroll paintings of note by an identified artist in Chinese art history, and it is in the permanent collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing.
The painting was owned, written about, and commented by many notable figures throughout history, including Emperor Gaozong of Song, Emperor Huizong of Song, and artists like Zhao Mengfu, Xiang Yuanbian and Jin Nong, and then was later owned by the Qianlong Emperor (presented to him on his birthday in 1752). The painting has the seals, inscriptions and colophons of 14 renowned artists.
Historical reception
The painting was positively received by numerous well-known figures, such as the Tang dynasty writer Zhu Jingyuan (朱景元). In his 9th century text Tangchao Minghua Lu (唐朝名畫錄; written approximately from 840 to 843), Zhu writes "Duke Jin [Han Huang] was able to master their [animals'] subtlety ... it is above the finest of all works." Lu You of the Southern Song dynasty writes in his Weinan Wenji (渭南文集) that Han's masterful oxen painting had reminded him of the peaceful rural life that he had "lost all contact with" after taking a position in the government.
Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan dynasty describes the painting as "possessing a spirit that is unyielding. It is a masterpiece rarely seen in the world." Zhu Yizun of the early Qing dynasty, in his book Pushu tingji (曝書亭集), writes of the Five Oxen "this masterpiece stands as a brilliant testament to artistic genius and its miraculous survival through time." Jin Nong writes "the more one gazes upon this painting, the more its wonders unfold; it is, in truth, a work of sublime genius."
References
↑Xing, C. (2015, May). Prime Minister Painter Han Huang and His Rural Life Works. In 1st International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education (ICADCE 2015) (pp. 101-103). Atlantis Press.
12Wenqiang, Yang. "The manifestation of national characteristics in Chinese painting." (2021).
↑Jang, S. J. Y. (1992). ox-herding Painting in the Sung Dynasty. Artibus Asiae, 52(1/2), 54-93.
↑Chu-Sheng, H., & Yi-Hsiu, T. (2025). "Tracing the Context of the Textual Field from the Framework of "Integrating Calligraphy into Painting"." International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, 5(6), 46–55. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijllc.5.6.7
↑Zhu, Jingyuan. Tangchao Minghua Lu (唐朝名畫錄). 韓滉，德宗朝宰相。當建中末，值茲喪亂，遂兼統六道節制，出為鎮海軍、江浙東西兼荊湖洪鄂等道節度使、中書令、晉國公。按《唐書》：「公天縱聰明，神幹正直，出入顯重，周旋令猷，出律嚴肅，萬里無虞。」然嘗以公退之暇，雅愛丹青，詞高格逸，在僧繇、子雲之上。又學書與畫，畫則師於陸，書則師於張；畫體生成之蹤，書合自然之理。時車駕南狩，徵天下兵。雖兩浙興師，勞心計，而六法之妙，無逃筆精。能圖田家風俗，人物水牛，曲盡其妙。議者謂驢牛雖目前之畜，狀最難圖也，惟晉公於此工之，能絕其妙。人間圖軸，往往有之，或得其紙本者，其畫亦薛少保之比，居妙品之上也。
