Kublai Khan Hunting

Liu Kuan-tao (ca. early 14th century), Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1279-1368)
Color on silk. Hanging scroll. 182.9 x 104.1 cm.

Kublai Khan (reigned A.D. 1260 1294), the grandson of Genghis Khan, defeated the forces of the Southern Sung dynasty, unified China and formally founded the Yuan dynasty. Kublai Khan is portrayed in this large painting with his wife at a hunt. The Mongol emperor wears a white fur coat and rides a black horse, while eight gentlemen amuse themselves with bows and arrows, falcons and dogs. In the distance is a caravan of camels.
Liu Kuan-tao, whose style name was Chung-hsien, was a native of Chung-shan. In A.D. 1279 he was ordered to paint the imperial portrait, and was appointed to the Department of Imperial Robes.

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