Warding off Evil through Painted Oxen: The Agency of Three Screen Paintings from Sui-Tang Tombs (6th to 8th c.)

My study focuses on three screen paintings from the tombs of Qu Qing (518-590), Empress Zhenshun (699-737), and Li Daojian (685-738), each depicting a Kunlun groom leading an ox. By analyzing their iconography and relevant historical accounts, it reveals that the theme of these screen paintings derived from a fourth-century tale about the subjugation of the azure-ox spirit of a catalpa. Originally a ferocious beast antagonistic to humans, the azure-ox spirit began to be depicted in paintings during the sixth century as a tamed sacred animal, serving to repel evil spirits. Meanwhile, a Kunlun groom was paired with it as its subjugator, showcasing the dynamic confrontation and collaboration between human and nonhuman forces.

Depicting a pair of auspicious figures, the three screen paintings were positioned near the tomb occupants for protective purposes. Unlike the traditional mode of burial decoration that fashions tomb guardians as animated beings accompanying the deceased, the screen paintings present the azure ox and its subjugator as painted motifs on painting surfaces. Situating the screen paintings within the religious and visual culture of the sixth to ninth centuries, this paper demonstrates their affinity with paintings of miraculous animals displayed both above and underground, whose pictorial and material properties were essential to their capacity to transform and interact with the physical world. Viewed in this light, the screen paintings appear to have functioned as performative objects endowed with apotropaic power, showcasing how the intricate interplay among artist, motif, and medium shaped the agency of painting at the time.