Nine Dragons Panel 3

Our Inspiration: Nine Dragons

China; Unidentified artist (16th–17th century), fake signature of Chen Rong (active 1235–62)

Handscroll, ink and color on silk; 15 5/8 x 115 1/4 in.; 17th century

From the Collection of A. W. Bahr, Purchase, Fletcher Fund, 1947   47.18.86

This painting follows the manner of the most celebrated dragon painter in Chinese history, the scholar-official and Daoist master Chen Rong. Chen famously avoided depicting the complete forms of his dragons, preferring to preserve their mystery by partially obscuring them in mists and clouds. In places, the artist of this work depicts a dragon in its entirety, one of the signs that it is a later painting in Chen’s manner. The inscription at the end is either a copy of an authentic Chen Rong or an outright fabrication.