Portraits of Periodical Offering
- Portraits of Periodical Offering
The Portraits of Periodical Offering (Zh-cw|c=职贡图/職貢圖|w=Chih-kung T'u), were the official historical paintings (with illustration on each of the portrait) used in the Chinese dynasties. Chih-kung-t'u were official historical documents used in many Chinese dynasties. The phrase roughly translated to "duty offering pictorial". Throughout Chinese history, kingdoms and tribes conquered by Chinese forces were required to send ambassadors to the imperial court of China periodically and pay tribute with valuable gifts (贡品 "kungpin").
Drawings and paintings with short descriptions were used to record the expression of these ambassadors and to a lesser extent to show the cultural aspects of these ethnic groups. These historical descriptions beside the portrait became the equivalent of documents of diplomatic relations with each country. The drawings were reproduced in woodblock printing after the 9th century and distributed among the bureaucracy in albums. The "Portraits of Periodical Offering of Imperial Qing" by Xie Sui (谢遂), completed in 1751, gives verbal descriptions of outlying tribes as far as the island of England in Western Europe.
The "Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang" by the Emperor Yuan of Liang Xiao Yi, dated to the 6th century, is the earliest surviving of these specially significant paintings. The original of the work was lost, and the only surviving edition of this work was a copy from the 11th century, which is currently preserved at the National Museum of China. The work originally consisted of twenty five portraits of ambassadors from their respectively country, by the time of Song Dynasty some portraits were already missing, and the current version consist only about twelve of them.
Their countries of origin are, from right to left: Uar (Hephthalites); Persia; Baekje; Qiuci; Wo (Japan); Langkasuka; Dengzhi (邓至) of Qiang ethnic from Ngawa; Zhouguke (周古柯), Hebatan (呵跋檀), Humidan (胡密丹), Baiti (白題, of similar Hephthalite stocks), whom dwell close to Hephthalite; Mo (Qiemo).
ee also
*Foreign relations of Imperial China
*Hephthalites
*Twenty-Four Histories
External links
* [http://www.cnarts.net/cweb/arts/yishubaoz/history/history2.asp#h23 Picture of Liang Chih-kung-t'u]
* [http://fanti.zgshj.com/Artist/H/2005/2005052414271684.htm Chinese Calligraphy And Painting Artist Network: Xiao Yi] (Chinese)
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