Robert van Gulik
Robert Hans van Gulik (, 9 August 1910 – 24 September 1967) was a Dutch orientalist, diplomat, musician (of the guqin), and writer, best known for the Judge Dee historical mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century ...
, Yi Yuanji's paintings of
gibbon
Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast India ...
s were particularly celebrated.Van Gulik, Robert Hans (1967), The gibbon in China: An essay in Chinese animal lore, E. J. Brill, Leiden, Holland. There is a brief summary a /ref>
The 11th-century critic Guo Ruoxu () in his ''Overview of Painting'' (图画见闻志, ''Tuhua Jian Wen Zhi'') tells this about Yi's career:
He spent months roaming the mountains of southern Hubei and northern Hunan, watching roebucks () and gibbons () in their natural environment.
In 1064, Yi Yuanji was invited to paint screens in the imperial palace. Once this job has been completed, the Yingzong Emperor, impressed, commissioned him to paint the ''Picture of a Hundred Gibbons'', but unfortunately the artist died after painting only a few gibbons. A few of his other gibbon paintings have survived, and
Robert van Gulik
Robert Hans van Gulik (, 9 August 1910 – 24 September 1967) was a Dutch orientalist, diplomat, musician (of the guqin), and writer, best known for the Judge Dee historical mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century ...
, quite familiar with the behavior of this ape, comments on how naturally they look in the pictures. His other work includes depictions of deer, peacocks, birds-and-flowers and fruits-and-vegetables; many of them are kept in the
National Palace Museum
The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...
in Taipei. The ''Monkey and Cats'' painting is especially charming. Van Gulik identifies the monkey as a
macaque
The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and (in one instance) Gibraltar. Macaques are principally ...
. This painting was featured on a 2004 "Year of the Monkey" stamp from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The image of Yi Yuanji, with his intimate knowledge of nature, has attracted attention from modern Chinese painters.Painting by modern artist Fan Zeng (范曾 ''Yi Yuanji playing with a monkey'' (易元吉戏猴图)" painting by the modern Chinese artist Fang Zeng (范曾)