Cranes

This rather playful painting falls within a long Chinese artistic tradition of portraying good omens. In this tradition the gathering of large numbers of cranes was highly auspicious and could be read as a sign of heaven's approval of the rule of the emperor. Only wishful thinking or great optimism can account for the use of this theme during the period between 1900 and 1966, when this painting would probably have been created. During those years the Chinese witnessed the end of imperial rule, a long period of anarchy, conquest of much of their country by the Japanese, and the beginnings of the Cultural Revolution.