The earliest type of Chinese painting was figure painting. From the time of the Yellow Emperor through the Han dynasty, paintings of exemplary or evil emperors were used for didactic purposes. During the T'ang dynasty, paintings of Buddhist figures became predominant. In later dynasties up through the Ching period, figure paintings centered around famous characters in Chinese literature.
Su Wu and Li Ling are two such characters. According to history, they lived during the reign of Han Wu-ti. During that time (in the first century B.C.), the Chinese were often in conflict with the Hsiung-nu border tribes in the north. Su Wu was sent by the Emperor to negotiate with Ch'an Yu, the Hsiung-nu chieftain, who imprisoned him and forced him to work herding sheep.
With attempts at negotiation ending in failure, the following year Han Wu-ti sent troops to engage in battle. But most were lost along the way, and the small group led by Li Ling was no comparison to the Hsiung-nu. Instead of fighting to the death to retain his honor, Li surrendered and married the Hsiung-nu chieftain's daughter with hopes of eventual revenge.
Su and Li, longtime friends, continued to maintain their close friendship. After 19 years, a truce was made between the Han and the Hsiung-nu. Su, whose mother had since passed away, and wife remarried, was free to return home. Li, whose family had been executed for his cowardly surrender, could not return home. The story of the two unfortunate men became a popular literary theme, and the sad scene of their parting on the bleak northern border is often used in Chinese painting.
The painting in the National Palace Museum, 25.2cm×121.4cm, was done by the court painter Ch'en Chu-chung during the Northern Sung dynasty. Su, dressed in white, bids a sad farewell to his friend Li. While the painting depicts a Han theme, the brands on the horses and the hairstyles and dress of the figures on the left belong not to the Hsiung-nu of the first century B.C., but rather to the Ch'i-tan people who lived on the northern border during the Sung dynasty.
(Jill Ardourel)
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