Unknown Chinese Artist
Black Warrior of the North
1899
Scroll
Unknown Chinese Artist
Black Warrior of the North
1899
Physical Qualities
Ink on paper mounted as a hanging scroll, 79 3/16 x 23 7/16 in. (201.1 x 59.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Laurance P. and Isabel S. Roberts, Baltimore
Object Number
2006.53
The scroll depicts a snake wrapped around a tortoise. The "Warrior of the North" was one of the emblems of the cardinal directions. The green dragon represented the east; the red bird, the south; the white tiger, the west; and the entwined snake and tortoise, the north. While the precise significance of the emblems is not known, their origin is quite ancient and their composition unvaried. There are references to them that date at least as early as the 6th century B.C.
This scroll is in the form of a rubbing with additional painted details.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 2005; Laurance and Isabel Roberts, Baltimore; Laurence Roberts, New York, by gift, c. 1940
Artist , after Wu Daozi (Chinese, active c. 710-760)
Unknown Chinese Artist
