Western Tribute Mastiff Map Axis

[Western Tribute Mastiff Map Axis]

Ming, silk, color. 160.4 cm in length and 102.5 cm in width
The picture depicts a Hu man with a high nose and deep eyes and a beard, holding a mastiff, sitting on the White Marble steps outside the imperial palace waiting for tribute. As early as the pre-Qin period, the western minorities began to pay tribute to the Central Plains. The Shangshu Lv Mastiff records: “Only to conquer business, and then pass through the nine barbarians and eight barbarians, and the Western Brigade… tribute to the Jue Mastiff.” According to Kong Yingda’s commentary, “Western Brigade” refers to the western Qiang nationality. The chapter of Shangshu · Traveling Mastiff exhorts the emperor not to “play with things” because of his preference for the tribute mastiff dog, while the “tribute mastiff map” is used to praise the emperor’s martial arts and show the momentum of “coming from all over the world”. The “tribute mastiff map” has many different forms in the past dynasties