The Auspicious Crane Vertical

"The Auspicious Cranes Painting" is a renowned masterpiece created by Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji of the Northern Song Dynasty. The creation of this painting was inspired by a spectacular scene that occurred on the evening following the Lantern Festival, when auspicious clouds and a flock of cranes flew across the sky, with two of them landing on the roof of the Xuande Gate Palace, drawing the gaze of people within the imperial city who looked up in awe. Emperor Huizong deemed this a symbol of national prosperity and decided to capture this moment in a painting, accompanied by a poem to commemorate it.

In this painting, the 20 cranes exhibit various poses and expressions, with their stretched wings, slender necks, and legs making them appear exceptionally graceful. Upon completion, Emperor Huizong regarded it as a national treasure and kept it in the palace.

However, with the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, "The Auspicious Cranes Painting" also underwent numerous transfers and disappearances. After the Calamity of Jingkang, the whereabouts of the painting became unknown, initially possibly captured by the Jin army, and later passed through the hands of individuals such as Hu Xingjian of the Yuan Dynasty, Xiang Yuanbian and Wu Yanliang of the Ming Dynasty. It was until the Qianlong period that this painting, hidden for 600 years, reappeared and was included in the "Collection of Treasures in Stone Canal" (Shiqu Baoji). Today, "The Auspicious Cranes Painting" has become one of the important works in the history of Chinese painting and is housed in the Liaoning Provincial Museum.