Fu Baoshi, Su Wu, Shepherding Sheep Banner

The banner of the “Su Wu Shepherd Painting” by Fu Baoshi, in modern times, is painted by Fu Baoshi in paper, with colors, 62 centimeters vertically and 84 centimeters horizontally.

8 cm
The title of this painting is: “Fu Baoshi wrote it in the western suburbs of Chongqing during the December of the Guiwei Festival.” The seal is “Baoshi Private Seal” in white text, “Baoshi Delightful Works” in Zhu text, and “Often Drunken After” in Zhu text
Guiwei was born in 1943
The traditional theme “Su Wu Shepherd” is a common object of expression in Fu Baoshi’s “Historical Reality” paintings, and this painting is an earlier one. During the Western Han Dynasty, Su Wu was appointed to serve as an envoy to the Xiongnu in the first year of the Heavenly Han Dynasty (100 BC) of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, aged 40. The Xiongnu leader, Shan Yu, detained him and forced him to surrender. Despite threats and inducements, Su Wu remained steadfast and unyielding. Shan Yu exiled him to herd sheep in the North Sea (near Lake Baikal in Siberia today), hoping that the harsh living environment would shake his patriotic beliefs. Despite the cold weather and the lack of food, Su Wu always held tightly to the Han Festival (a symbol given to envoys during the Han Dynasty), sat, sat, and walked without leaving his body. The tail of the festival fell, making it difficult for him to achieve his goals. By the time the envoy of Emperor Zhao of Han Dynasty came to greet Su Wu and return to the dynasty, he had been 19 years away from his hometown
The picture frames the scene when the generals of the Han Dynasty came to welcome Su Wu’s return to China: among the flocks of sheep, Su Wu with white eyebrows stood proudly holding the Han Festival, his eyes facing the sky, showing a resolute and profound character; The Han general bowed in respect of the previous envoy; The Xiongnu officials either paid close attention or whispered, admiring the old man’s clank of iron. The gloomy and bleak sky and the boundless snowfield all set off a solemn and serene atmosphere for this dramatic scene. This painting was painted in the late period of the Anti Japanese War, and the painter used the story of Su Wu to express his national integrity and confidence in winning the war. Its significance is far-reaching
This is a donation from Mrs. Fu Baoshi, Luo Shihui