Menagerie of Meaning

When is a tiger not just a tiger? An eagle more than an eagle? When they're painted as messages about social and political conditions, philosophies about leadership and cultural values. This was the case during the Chinese Imperial Court between the 11th and 19th centuries, when its painters used animals as symbols. Many of the meanings of these images had been lost, but Hou-Mei Sung, curator of Asian art at the Cincinnati Art Museum, has rediscovered them.