DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



their breeds, and consequently they caused scrolls portraying 

 large numbers of dogs to be painted. Unfortunately, the 

 painting talent upon which they could draw was limited, so 

 that the results cannot compare with those which would be 

 obtained if, for instance, British painters were commissioned 

 to portray a similar number of specimens to be found in 

 England at the present time. 



A well-known Chinese painter of dogs in Peking he had 

 been for years a pupil of Shen Chen Lin was asked to make 

 a likeness of water-colours of one of the local Pekingese 

 specimens. The result was recognizable as referring to this 

 dog on account of facial resemblance which, apart from 

 somewhat conventional treatment as regards the cheeks, went 

 far to constitute something of a portrait. The treatment of 

 the body, however, was altogether conventional. The fringes 

 of the dog's front, ears, legs, and tail, were almost entirely 

 omitted, and the painter had obviously substituted the 

 crystallized Chinese artistic convention, as it had been trans- 

 mitted to him, in place of a true likeness of the general form. 



Miss Carl, who painted the late Empress Dowager with her 

 two Pekingese dogs, remarks that the " Old Buddha " con- 

 sidered it more remarkable that these animals had been 

 painted so that they were recognizable than that a good 

 likeness of herself had been made. It is probable, therefore, 

 that only a small proportion of the reproductions of these 

 dogs in Chinese art can be taken to be portraits or to have 

 more than an approximate resemblance to definite originals. 



All Chinese are fond of sending small presents to their 

 friends on auspicious occasions. The literary man loves to 

 send a luck verse or picture having some happy allusion, 

 usually more or less veiled in classical lore, as a charm or 

 omen, to herald good fortune on a friend's birthday or on the 

 New Year. Buddhism and superstition provide him with an 

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